Eurozone governments are looking to the European Central Bank and national central banks to help pare back the cost of a second rescue package for Greece which would otherwise amount to €170bn.
Figures seen by the Financial Times reveal Greece needs €136bn in fresh bail-out funding from the European Union and International Monetary Fund – in addition to the €34bn left over from Greece’s first bail-out. This is €6bn more than EU leaders agreed in October. Germany, the Netherlands and Finland have insisted on paying no more than €130bn.
Eurozone finance ministers, who meet in Brussels today to hammer out a deal to save Greece from default, hope the ECB can contribute by forgoing some of the future profits it would earn on its Greek bondholdings, which it has said it was willing to do.