Eurozone ministers approve 8bn euro Greek bailout aid
USSELS. October 22. KAZINFORM Eurozone finance ministers have approved the next tranche of Greek bailout loans, potentially saving the country from a disastrous default; Kazinform refers to BBC.
The 8bn-euro loan must still be signed off by the International Monetary Fund.
Once this is done, Athens should get the funds in mid-November, officials said on Friday.
Ministers, who have begun several days of talks, also said they were working on a second rescue package for Greece.
The new plan for the debt-ridden country would include fresh aid money and contributions from the private sector.
However, no further details on the new package were disclosed.
The finance ministers are meeting in Brussels for negotiations aimed at resolving the eurozone's debt crisis and bolstering the region's banking sector.
On Saturday, ministers from all 27 EU countries will join the talks. EU leaders will also gather on Sunday, and have announced plans for an extra meeting on Wednesday.
But there have been widespread reports of deep divisions between France and Germany.
In particular, the two need to agree on how to increase the firepower of the eurozone's bailout fund, the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF), from its current 440bn euros.
France has proposed turning the EFSF into a bank so that it could borrow from the European Central Bank (ECB), but Germany has refused to sanction such a move, arguing it would compromise the ECB's impartiality.
German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble reiterated this position as he arrived at the Brussels meeting.
"We have all taken note that it is clear, first, that we will stick to the agreed guarantees and that we will stick to the situation as it is in the treaty that the central bank is not available for state financing," he said.
The German government has also promised its taxpayers that its contribution will not go above 211bn euros so is looking for a way to increase the size of the fund without increasing the liabilities of German taxpayers.
Despite no apparent movement on the deadlock, markets were trading higher, with the leading indexes in London, Frankfurt and Berlin all up between 1.5% and 2.7%, while US markets also rose at the start.
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