Germany's cabinet has approved its contribution to the Eurozone and IMF bailout of Greece. The German parliament is set to pass the legislation later this week to allow its loan—worth 22.4 billion Euros over three years—to be paid.
Euro zone members and the IMF have agreed to a 110 billion Euro (146.2 billion US dollars) three-year bailout package to rescue Greece's embattled economy. In return for the loans, Greece will make major austerity cuts which Prime Minister George Papandreou said involved “great sacrifices”.
The head of the International Monetary Fund has warned that the crisis in Greece could spread throughout Europe. Dominique Strauss-Kahn said that every day lost in resolving Greece's problems risks spreading the impact “far away”.
Latin American economies as a whole are recovering nicely from the global economic downturn but “cheap and abundant external finances raise the risk of a boom-bust cycle”, said Nicolas Eyzaguirre, IMF Western Hemisphere Department Director.
Brazil’s government may take additional steps to limit gains in the local currency Real should advanced economies favor policies that keep their currencies weak, Finance Minister Guido Mantega said.
Argentina’s Deputy Economy Minister Roberto Feletti said the Government “will not accept economic policies to be dictated” by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and added that country's statistical information is “trustworthy and solid.”
Greece will not get its multi-billion Euro aid package until it commits to bigger economic sacrifices, Germany’s finance minister warned over the weekend.
By Jose Antonio Ocampo – Two troubling features of the ongoing economic recovery are the depressed nature of world trade and the early revival of international global payment imbalances. Estimates by the International Monetary Fund and the United Nations indicate that the volume of international trade in 2010 will still be 7% to 8% below its 2008 peak, while many or most countries, including industrial nations, are seeking to boost their current accounts.
Latest forecasts from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) predict Chile and Peru will lead Latin America’s growth in 2011 with an expansion of 6% each. The IMF released its World Economic Outlook Report on Wednesday, upping Chile’s projected growth from 4 to 4.7%.
Greece has formally asked for the activation of an EU-IMF financial rescue package to help pull the debt-ridden economy out of its crisis. It had hoped that just the promise of EU support, agreed last month, would have been enough to reassure markets and help its recovery.