3 Mar 2012

Greek bailout still another week away

5:52 am on 3 March 2012

EU ministers say Greece will not get funds from the second EU/IMF bailout until its private creditors give final approval for their losses next week.

Eurogroup chief Jean-Claude Juncker said on Friday that Greece had taken all the legal action necessary to get the 130 billion euro ($US175 billion) bailout.

But he said the bailout must await the debt swap with private bondholders on 8 March.

Private bondholders, such as banks and private investors, recently agreed to take a 53.5% loss on their Greek bonds. The BBC reports their losses amount to 107 billion euro.

This "haircut" and a huge package of public sector cuts aim to reduce Greek debt from 160% to 120.5% GDP by 2020.

Earlier Greek MPs backed the last major package of reforms promised in return for the second bailout.

A series of health budget cuts were confirmed despite protests outside parliament in Athens.