IMF Readies New Greek Bailout

The Daily Telegraph reports:

The International Monetary Fund is preparing to pump more money into riot-torn Greece’s stricken economy in an attempt to calm turmoil on the financial markets.

The IMF said it stood “ready to continue its support” for the country providing the government introduced far-reaching economic reforms. It was threatening to withhold support for Greece, which was due to be paid next month, but this is now thought unlikely.

A new bail-out package, the second in 13 months, is expected to be agreed over the next few weeks.

The European Union’s top economic official, Olli Rehn, said he expected the EU and the IMF to release a €12 billion loan in early July to keep Greece solvent. Greece was warned last night that it must introduce austerity cuts and not default on repayments on its emergency bail-out loan as a condition of the new deal. Fears that Greece was about to default on repaying its debts rocked financial markets yesterday.