European sovereign debt crisis timeline

According to The Wall street Journal, the International Monetary Fund is ready to participate in the new Greek bailout plan. The financial newspaper cites EU sources who say IMF officials informed Eurozone staff of the Fund’s decision to take part in the new deal agreed upon between Greece and the Quartet.

Greece and its international lenders clinched a multi-billion-euro bailout agreement on Aug. 11 after marathon talks through the night, officials said, raising hopes aid can be disbursed in time for a major debt repayment falling due in days.

Greece and its creditors were to continue talks August 10 after marathon discussions late into the night, with both sides indicating that the terms of a third bailout were close to being finalised.

According to Financial Times online, the IMF’s board was told it cannot participate in the new Greek bailout plan due to the country’s high debt per GDP ratio. This development raises concerns whether the Fund will join the EU’s recent (third) rescue plan for Greece.

Greece and its international creditors will begin talks on a new international bailout worth up to 86 billion euros ($94 billion) for the crisis-hit country next week, a Greek government source said July 25.

Meet “Game of Greece”, a play on the international television phenomenon “Game of Thrones”, as seen by “Die Zeit”, which comes complete with 10 “episodes” dating to the country’s first “covenant” to join the future currency union.

The IMF threw the SYRIZA government in Athens another “curve ball” on Thursday, with a spokesman in Athens saying the Fund’s leadership has not decided yet whether it will participate in the latest, and third, bailout program for Greece.

Standard & Poor's on July 21 upgraded Greece's sovereign credit rating by two notches and revised its outlook to stable from negative, citing eurozone countries initial agreement to start negotiations with the country on a third bailout.

The EU approved a short-term bridge loan of EUR 7.16 B to Greece, which will allow the country to meet debt repayments to the IMF and ECB, while the agreement on a third bailout is still being ratified.

European Commission Vice-President for the Euro Valdis Dombrovskis announced that all 28 EU member states backed the agreement on a bridge loan, daily Kathimerini reports.

Chancellor Angela Merkel was to rally German lawmakers on July 17 to back talks for a new Greece bailout deal, a day after the parliament in Athens grudgingly agreed to harsh reforms.