EU ministers press Greece on extra deficit cuts

Sweden’s finance minister said on Tuesday Greece’s deficit-reduction plan was not enough, raising pressure on Athens to do more to prevent a swollen debt and broader financial market trouble from getting out of hand.

As European Union finance ministers met in Brussels, Luxembourg’s Jean-Claude Juncker also vented frustration at the “irrational” behavior of financial markets that have driven the euro lower and bond yields higher in response to Greece’s woes.

Greece is the first country in 11 years of European monetary union to require a political pledge of support as fears over its bloated debt sparked a market attack that makes it even harder for it and other governments to service their debt.

With two lots of sovereign debt of more than 8 billion euros each to refinance on the markets in April and May, Athens is on the frontline, and markets also have other euro zone countries such as Spain and Portugal in their sights.

Reuters

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Alfonso Esparza

Alfonso Esparza

Senior Currency Analyst at Market Pulse
Alfonso Esparza specializes in macro forex strategies for North American and major currency pairs. Upon joining OANDA in 2007, Alfonso Esparza established the MarketPulseFX blog and he has since written extensively about central banks and global economic and political trends. Alfonso has also worked as a professional currency trader focused on North America and emerging markets. He has been published by The MarketWatch, Reuters, the Wall Street Journal and The Globe and Mail, and he also appears regularly as a guest commentator on networks including Bloomberg and BNN. He holds a finance degree from the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education (ITESM) and an MBA with a specialization on financial engineering and marketing from the University of Toronto.
Alfonso Esparza