NEWS,16.03.2012.

Greece receives second multibillion-dollar bailout

The euro zone's temporary bailout fund, the European Financial Stability Facility, will contribute 109.1 billion euros to the second Greek bailout after covering the costs of the Greek debt swap. The IMF will contribute 28 billion euros on top of the 109.1 billion, which the Fund will pay to Greece over four years, rather than the three years envisaged in the euro zone financing plan. The 109.1 billion figure includes 48 billion euros that the EFSF will provide, in the form of its own bonds, to recapitalise Greek banks, over the next few weeks, Regling told several international news agencies.” That means 61 billion euros is left for normal programme financing," he said in comments for release on Friday. The EFSF figure does not include the 30 billion euros that the euro zone has provided as a sweetener for investors in the privately held debt restructuring, or the 5.5 billion euros of repayment of accrued interest. Regling said the EFSF has provided 26.6 billion euros of the sweetener for investors holding debt governed by Greek law.” Once the debt exchange offer has been completed on Greek sovereign bonds issued under international law and Greek corporate and municipal bonds, guaranteed by the Greek state, the amount of the PSI (private sector involvement) contribution could increase to a total of 30 billion euros," Regling said. Investors holding Greek bonds issued under international law have until March 23 to accept or reject a debt swap offer already widely accepted by those holding Greek-law bonds. The EFSF, which has a total lending capacity of 440 billion euros thanks to guarantees from euro zone governments, has issued 6-month bills worth 4.6 billion euros to repay accrued interest on Greek debt out of the 5.5-billion-euro total. If holders of Greek debt under international law decide to accept the debt swap too, they will get the remaining 900 million euros. The second bailout for Greece, financed by the EFSF, comes on top of the fund's commitments to Ireland and Portugal, the two other euro zone countries that have been cut off from the markets and need euro zone loans to avoid bankruptcy.” Overall the EFSF has committed 192 billion euros for the three programmes of Ireland, Portugal and Greece. This leaves 248 billion euros of uncommitted resources," Regling said. Under a preliminary funding plan, which is subject to market conditions, the EFSF expects to raise a total of 8.1 billion euros for Ireland in 2012 and 2 billion euros in 2013.For Portugal, the EFSF wants to raise 13.9 billion euros in 2012, 3.6 billion euros in 2013 and 1.7 billion euros in 2014.To service the Greek programme, the EFSF's preliminary funding plan envisages 32.2 billion euros in 2012, 32.3 billion euros in 2013 and 32.1 billion euros in 2014.Next week, the fund may issue its longest bond so far of between 20 and 30 years in maturity in an auction of 1-to-1.5 billion euros, depending on market conditions. The EFSF also plans to sell 2 billion euros' worth of 6-month bills on March 20 and is considering the sale of a benchmark 5-year bond on March 22.

'Dummy' journalist annoys Sarkozy

French President Nicolas Sarkozy was caught on camera calling a journalist a "dummy", in an outburst his Socialist election rival Francois Hollande condemned as vulgar and undignified. Sarkozy has earned a reputation for blunt speaking during his five-year presidency. In the run-up to April's first round presidential vote, he appears to have been at pains to shed that image. But during a visit to Chalons-sur-Marne, east of Paris, he appeared to lose patience with a young journalist when questioned about clashes between police and striking steel workers in the capital on Thursday.” Do you think I give a damn about what you say? What do you expect me to say?" he says, adding: "What a dummy!” He then turned back smiling to the journalist and slapped him on the shoulder, apologizing for the comment and saying: "He's nice really. He's young.” Socialist candidate Francois Hollande blasted Sarkozy in the wake of the incident accusing him of slipping back into the "excesses" and "vulgarity" that had marked his five-year term."Do you think that's the best way to conduct a dignified public debate?" he said on France 2 television. Some 150 workers from the Arcelor Mittal steel mill at Floranges in eastern France gathered outside Sarkozy's campaign headquarters in Paris earlier in the day to protest at the threatened closure of the plant and push for a solution. The protest turned violent as workers tried to break through a police line, prompting riot police to fire tear gas to put an end to the demonstration. Sarkozy's comments came only hours after he had himself criticized his rival Hollande for losing his temper, referring to the Socialist candidate's heated campaign speech in Marseilles a day earlier.” There’s no need to get angry, tense up, to be nasty or aggressive," he told journalists on the side lines of an earlier visit to a metal factory.Sarkozy has been dogged by a reputation for inflammatory language since he captured the headlines during his 2007 presidential campaign with a call to rid the Paris suburbs of young "scum”. In 2008 he was caught on camera telling a man at an agricultural fair to "get lost, jerk", a phrase that would haunt him throughout his presidency. That, combined with his whirlwind romance with model-turned-singer Carla Bruni and his friendships with wealthy businessmen, alienated many voters.Sarkozy has consistently trailed Hollande in polls of voting intentions, but overtook his arch-rival in the first-round vote in an IFOP poll this week. Second-round polls still show Hollande as the outright winner. The latest daily rolling poll of voting intentions by IFOP for magazine Paris Match, showed Sarkozy taking 28% of the vote in the first round on April 22, against 26.5%  for Hollande.Hollande would still win in a second-round runoff, with 53.5% of votes.