Euro finance ministers back Greek aid plan

Eurozone finance ministers have signed off a second bailout for Greece, paving the way for the first €130bn package this month that aims to finance the country until 2014.

Greece swapped its privately held bonds at the weekend for longer maturity paper with less than half the nominal value, a move that pares its debts by more than €100bn, Reuters reports. Greece will receive its first €5.9bn instalment from the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF), the eurozone's temporary rescue fund, in March, followed by another €3.3bn in April and €5.3bn in May, EFSF chief executive Klaus Regling said. "As agreed, new official financing of €130bn will be committed by the euro area and the IMF for the period 2012-2014," Jean-Claude Juncker, who chairs the Eur...