Greece Secures a New $156 Billion Bailout
After it passed a wide-ranging, $40 billion austerity package yesterday, Greece announced today it had secured a $156.83 billion bailout from the European Union and the International Monetary fund. The bailout will be the second for the economically troubled nation, which secured a similarly sized rescue package in May 2010. Prime Minister George Papandreou today "also said European leaders have agreed to pay out another €12 billion from the first aid program and that he expects the disbursement in early July," according to The Wall Street Journal. News of the bailout today boosted stock across Europe and Asia, The Guardian reported:
The FTSE 100 index in London rallied 83 points to 5757.51 in early trading, a gain of 1.5%. On Thursday, it closed down 98.61 points at 5674.38 after downbeat comments on the state of the economy from the US Federal Reserve chairman, Ben Bernanke. France's CAC rose 1.4% while Germany's Dax climbed 1.7%.
Most Asian markets were also up, with the Nikkei in Tokyo gaining 0.85% to 9678.71 and Hong Kong's Hang Seng rising 1.7% to 22,132.01.
According to The Journal, "EU sources said the new bailout facility constitutes €30 billion from bond rollovers by private investors, €30 billion from Greek state asset sales and the rest from fresh loans from the EU and the IMF."
