Greece Granted Another Extenstion to Reach Budget Goals

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By Trey Thoelcke Published
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The most important story out of Europe today is that Greece has been given an extension to reach its austerity and budget goals. The region’s finance ministers did not have any options. Greece was not going to meet earlier goals. Without an extension, default was a certainty, along with whatever fallout might accompany it. The ministers had to make a decision quickly because Greece needs the next installment of its loans to pay basic expenses and cover debt service. CNNMoney reports:

Eurozone finance ministers have agreed to give Greece two more years to meet fiscal targets attached to a second sovereign bailout, but will not release the next installment of rescue funding for at least another week.

The Eurogroup, which brings together finance ministers from the 17 eurozone nations and European Central Bank President Mario Draghi, said new austerity measures and a 2013 budget adopted by the Greek parliament within the last week demonstrated the resolve of the recession-ravaged nation to get its debt-cutting efforts back on track.

Greece was forced to seek a second bailout from the so-called troika of EU, ECB and International Monetary Fund in March as it buckled under the weight of debt now projected to hit 190% of gross domestic product next year.

But payments were suspended after months of political turmoil left Athens way off its reform and fiscal targets set by the troika.

Douglas A. McIntyre

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About the Author Trey Thoelcke →

Trey has been an editor and author at 24/7 Wall St. for more than a decade, where he has published thousands of articles analyzing corporate earnings, dividend stocks, short interest, insider buying, private equity, and market trends. His comprehensive coverage spans the full spectrum of financial markets, from blue-chip stalwarts to emerging growth companies.

Beyond 24/7 Wall St., Trey has created and edited financial content for Benzinga and AOL's BloggingStocks, contributing additional hundreds of articles to the investment community. He previously oversaw the 24/7 Climate Insights site, managing editorial operations and content strategy, and currently oversees and creates content for My Investing News.

Trey's editorial expertise extends across multiple publishing environments. He served as production editor at Dearborn Financial Publishing and development editor at Kaplan, where he helped shape financial education materials. Earlier in his career, he worked as a writer-producer at SVE. His freelance editing portfolio includes work for prestigious clients such as Sage Publications, Rand McNally, the Institute for Supply Management, the American Library Association, Eggplant Literary Productions, and Spiegel.

Outside of financial journalism, Trey writes fiction and has been an active member of the writing community for years, overseeing a long-running critique group and moderating workshop sessions at regional conventions. He lives with his family in an old house in the Midwest.

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