The Finance Ministers of the Eurozone are to finalise a deal next week on enlarging the Eurozone's capacity to bail out a country with debt problems- The aim is to provide greater protection against the possibility that sovereign-debt problems might affect large eurozone countries such as Italy and Spain.
The German government had opposed increasing the €500 billion limit set for the eurozone's permanent bail-out fund, the European Stability Mechanism (ESM), which is to start operations in July. But it has softened its stance and agreed to the use of €200bn in unallocated funds from the temporary bail-out fund, the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF), which was set up in the early months of the sovereign-debt crisis. So the overall size of the eurozone's protective firewall will be €700bn, though the effective lending capacity will be less.
The deal will be agreed at the end of next week, when finance ministers and central bankers from the member states of the EU gather in Copenhagen for an informal meeting (30-31 March).
IMF assistance
Increasing the eurozone's bail-out capacity is a pre-condition for members of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to provide additional funds for lending to eurozone countries.
Christine Lagarde, the head of the IMF, has warned that without an increase in available funding, the likes of Spain and Italy might get into difficulties financing their debts on capital markets.
The annual general meeting of the IMF will be held in Washington, DC, on 20-22 April. At the meeting, member countries are expected to agree to increase the fund's capacity to lend to the eurozone by $500bn (€380bn).
24 April 2026
The Malta Chamber of SMEs, in collaboration with Transport Malta, organised the second educational session...
23 April 2026
Thanks to EU funding, the Malta Chamber of SMEs organised another free specialised training session...
22 April 2026
Earlier this week, Malta Chamber of SMEs President Mr Paul Abela attended a special event...
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