Eurozone FinMins Give Greece Another 4 Months To Get Its Life Together

Not everyone is convinced the time won't be squandered.
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Eurozone finance ministers approved a four-month extension to Greece’s bailout on Tuesday, despite signaling concerns over the willingness of the new left-wing government in Athens to implement the budget cuts and legislative overhauls they demanded. The extension removes the immediate threat of a Greek exit from Europe’s currency union and a run by depositors on the country’s banks. “Greece has won a few weeks,” said a senior Finance Ministry official in Athens. But numerous hurdles remain until the government can get its hands on the cash remaining in its €240 billion ($273 billion) bailout from the eurozone and the International Monetary Fund and negotiate a longer-term rescue deal with its creditors. [WSJ]

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Greece doesn't need any of you! Greece's finance minister on Thursday denied a report citing the country's representative to the IMF as saying Athens would need a third bailout package. The euro weakened against the dollar on the report, which was later also denied by the official quoted in the article and came as international inspectors are mulling handing over the next tranche of Greece's second aid package. "The country's positions are formulated by the Prime Minister and the Finance Minister," Greek Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras told Reuters in response to the Dow Jones/Wall Street Journal report. The article quoted Thanos Catsambas, Alternate Executive Director at the IMF Executive Board representing Greece, as saying the country would need a third bailout from European creditors. It also reported Greece could not bridge a funding gap and had met only 22 percent of targets for the second bailout...Catsambas issued a statement saying the article included "at least three important inaccuracies". [Reuters]