Creditors rule out massive third bail-out for embattled Greece

27-Apr (Telegraph) — Europe’s creditor powers have ruled out another “big” bail-out programme for Greece as the country edges ever-closer to an unprecedented default on its international lenders.

With relations between the debtor country and its paymasters reaching a fresh nadir on Friday, the head of Europe’s finance ministers Jeroen Dijsselbloem said there would be no repeat rescue package of the magnitude agreed with Greece in 2010 and 2012.

It had been thought that cash-strapped Athens would require a fresh round of loans worth around €50bn to €60bn at the end of June as it faces a series of crucial summer debt repayments.

However, Mr Dijjselbloem told Dutch newspaper de Volkskrant any new programme would be of a “completely different order” than the current €240bn rescue package.

…Failure to inject a new round of emergency money into the country further calls into question Greece’s long-term future in the currency union. The country faces another key period of debt redemption in July and August, when €6.8bn of government debt held by the European Central Bank is due to mature.

Defaulting on the central bank would likely lead to the ECB pulling the plug on the country, warn analysts.

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