Greek troika sees second bailout up to 145 b euros

Reuters: Greece’s international lenders think the indebted country will need 145 billion euros of public money from the euro zone for its second bailout rather than the planned 130 billion euros, German news magazine Der Spiegel reported on Saturday.

The magazine said the extra 15 billion euros were needed because of the deteriorating economic situation in Greece, echoing a Reuters report on Thursday.

Der Spiegel quoted a representative of the troika of foreign leaders -- the European Commission, IMF and the European Central Bank -- saying: “We’re assuming that it won’t be possible to collect missing money solely from the private creditors.”

Talks with private creditors on swapping existing Greek bonds for longer-term debt made significant progress on legal and technical issues and will continue Saturday, both sides said late on Friday.

A preliminary deal could be sealed by Sunday evening, a Greek government official said, with the aim of submitting a public offer to bondholders by February 15.

However, EU Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn told Reuters on Thursday more public money will be needed to make up a shortfall in the second bailout for Greece even if private bondholders agree to take a share of losses.

Rehn said euro zone governments and EU institutions would need to make up the difference so that Greece’s public debt can be reduced to close to 120 percent of annual output by 2020, seen as a more sustainable level.

“We are preparing a package which will pave the way for a sustainable solution for Greece, and in that package, yes, on the basis of the revised debt sustainability analysis, there is likely to be some increased need of official sector funding, but not anything dramatic,” Rehn said.



It was the first time a top EU official had spelled out that more public money than the planned 130 billion euros would be required for a second Greek bailout package.



Germany, France and other euro zone states have so far described the 130 billion figure agreed in October as a red line that must not be crossed.



Rehn declined to say how big the funding shortfall would be. But an EU source said there could be a funding shortfall of 12 to 15 billion euros.