German banks and insurers have promised to participate in the aid package for Greece with an amount of eight billion euros, said a spokesman for the German Ministry of Finance on Friday.
The voluntary contribution will be in the form of existing loans to Greece that German financial institutions have pledged to maintain until 2012. Additionally, German financial institutions have agreed to support the joint loan package agreed upon between the eurozone and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
The German parliament on Friday approved a law that will allow the German government to issue guarantees for loans worth 22.4 billion euros from Germany, which make up the lion’s share of the agreed aid package of 110 billion euros for Greece. Meanwhile, the European Central Bank announced that it will hold a conference call with commercial banks to gather opinions on the situation in the money markets due to the Greek debt crisis.
Furthermore, finance ministers from G7 member countries will hold a conference call in the afternoon to discuss rescuing Greece from the debt crisis. In the evening, eurozone leaders will hold an emergency summit on Greece. Meanwhile, the Italian government has given the green light for aid to that country amounting to 7 billion euros, and later in the day, the Dutch parliament is expected to adopt the aid decision. (H)
