45 billion euros ($61 billion) Emergency Aid Pack For Greece Debt
On sunday Euro Zone finance ministers had approved a financial aid of $45 bn for Greece.The news drove the euro to its highest levels in nearly a month in early Asian trade on Monday, reaching $1.3665 from $1.3488 in New York on Friday.Forced into action by a surge in Greek borrowing costs to an 11-year high, euro-region finance ministers said yesterday they would offer as much as 30 billion euros in three-year loans in 2010 at around 5 percent. That’s less than the current three- year Greek bond yield of 6.98 percent. Another 15 billion euros would come from the International Monetary Fund.If Greece obtains aid, the package could dwarf past IMF bailouts for Mexico and Argentina.
According to Eurogroup chairman Jean-Claude Juncker in a news conference in Brussels after the meeting
“If the mechanism had to be activated, it would not be a violation of the no-bailout clause (in the European Union treaty) since the loans are repayable and contain no element of subsidy,”