EU Releases 49.1 billion euros in Greek Aid

Euro zone finance ministers and the International Monetary Fund have agreed to release 49.1 billion euros in aid to Greece by the end of March, with most of that sum flowing immediately, senior EU officials said on Thursday.

“Money will be flowing to Greece as early as next week,” Eurogroup Chairman Juncker told a news conference after a meeting of ministers from the single currency bloc. “We are convinced the program is back on a sound track.”

A Eurogroup statement said 34.3 billion euros would be paid out in the coming days and the remainder in the first quarter of 2013. Agreement to release the funds hinged on the success of a debt buyback launched by Greece last week, which will enable Athens to retire nearly 20 billion euros in bonds repurchased at a third of their face value from private holders.

Juncker said he was not sure that additional measures would be needed to reach an agreed goal to bring Greece’s debt down to 124 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) by 2020, but the bloc stood ready to take new steps if necessary.

via CNBC

This article is for general information purposes only. It is not investment advice or a solution to buy or sell securities. Opinions are the authors; not necessarily that of OANDA Corporation or any of its affiliates, subsidiaries, officers or directors. Leveraged trading is high risk and not suitable for all. You could lose all of your deposited funds.

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