Osborne presses Eurozone leaders
Saturday 15 October 2011
Latest in Europe
Related articles
On Facebook
From the blogs
Disclosure: We’d never even been to a club when we made our first single
For most of us, reaching eighteen years of age opens up a new world for exploration, spontaneity and...
Top of the posts: Drunken rants, the Western Fail and misogyny pushers
The most read blogs this week, as determined by stats.
Sepp Blatter: Penalty shoot-outs must remain, they’re football’s great leveller
As England supporters, we should scorn at any such deciding factor within football. On so many occas...
Why do some men consider the street as a female meat market?
Pronouncements on sexual inequality in the UK are normally met with an eye roll by my generation. As...
George Osborne has urged world leaders to put the global economy back on track by containing the eurozone crisis.
Arriving for this weekend's meeting of G20 finance ministers in Paris, the Chancellor said solving the problems would provide a major boost to growth.
The gathering is expected to back moves by European leaders and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to expand bailout funds that could rescue heavily-indebted nations such as Greece.
The eurozone has set up a European financial stability facility (EFSF) worth 440 billion euro. But many economists believe a fund of around two trillion euro will be needed fully to reassure anxious investors.
Final decisions are not likely to be taken until the main G20 meeting in Cannes next month.
Mr Osborne said: "The countdown to the Cannes summit of world leaders begins this weekend.
"The biggest boost to global and British growth would be a resolution to the eurozone crisis. Momentum is now finally building towards that.
"We should use this weekend to keep up the pressure and step up the pace."
Yesterday G20 finance chiefs wrangled over whether the eurozone should cover the whole bill for the growing debt crisis or whether the rest of the world should contribute more.
The IMF has so far funded about a third of costs of bailing out Greece, Portugal and Ireland.
Although some argue that Europe can afford to spend its way out of the crisis, there are calls for more support as the eurozone's debt troubles risk sparking another global recession.
Talks are expected to centre on Greece, amid fears the crisis could spread to other heavily indebted eurozone countries such as Spain and Italy if it defaults on its debt.
Spain suffered a blow on Thursday as credit ratings agency Standard & Poor's reduced the country's long-term rating by one notch - a week after Fitch also cut Spain's rating.
Meanwhile, Fitch cut the long-term ratings for Lloyds Banking Group and Royal Bank of Scotland by two notches on Thursday to reflect weakening support for the banking sector from the Government.
PA
- 1 Mark Zuckerberg saved $111m by selling Facebook shares before stock slumped
- 2 Brazil rocked by abortion for 9-year-old rape victim
- 3 News in pictures
- 4 Tory chief Warsi failed to declare rent income from flat
- 5 In pictures: The bewildering face of China
- 6 Osborne to face questions over links to Murdoch
- 7 Facebook: The shares shenanigans
- 8 Is Ridley Scott the most macho man in movies?
- 9 Günter Grass attacks Merkel for Athens policy
- 10 Exclusive dispatch: Assad blamed for massacre of the innocents
- 1 Mark Zuckerberg saved $111m by selling Facebook shares before stock slumped
- 2 Brazil rocked by abortion for 9-year-old rape victim
- 3 Fat? Really? Olympic hope laughs off official’s jibe – but others aren’t amused
- 4 Is Ridley Scott the most macho man in movies?
- 5 Postgraduate students are being used as 'slave labour'
- 6 'Hello mum, this is going to be hard for you to read ...'
- 7 African monkey meat that could be behind the next HIV
- 8 Exclusive dispatch: Assad blamed for massacre of the innocents
- 9 Coke reveals its secret: It may need to carry a cancer warning
- 10 French in uproar over oral sex anti-smoking posters
Experience the Heineken Hub
Get free wi-fi and exclusive i content while you enjoy a tasty pint of Heineken at participating pubs.
Can you imagine a career in teaching?
Be inspired to teach - let real teachers show you how rewarding the job can be.
Playing a game-changing role during the Games
Cisco is providing the solutions for London 2012's complex IT needs.
Enter the latest Independent competitions
Win anything from gadgets to five-star holidays on our competitions and offers page.
Business videos from commercial thought leaders
Watch the best in the business world give their insights into the world of business.
Career Services
Day In a Page
The secret life of the red carpet
Up and away – how '7 Up' went global



Comments