Greece To Get Two More Years To Cut Borrowing: Report

By Mike Obel | October 24 2012 8:46 AM

The three big institutions that decide on terms of Greece's financial rescue have decided to give the debt-choked euro zone member two additional years to meet fiscal targets, a Greek newspaper reported Wednesday.

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The report by Ethnos said Greece will receive $42 billion in aid from its European partners and be given until 2016 -- not 2014 as had been planned -- to cut new borrowing below the required European Union level of 3 percent of gross domestic product. The three institutions that are decided how and when to give Greece rescue money are the European Central Bank, or ECB, the International Monetary Fund and the European Union.

The Ethnos report was confirmed by German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung, but several euro zone officials denied that Greece is being given an extension, according to Dow Jones Newswires.

"There is no troika agreement with the Greek government," ECB executive board member Joerg Asmussen told Germany's ARD television, according to Dow Jones. Asmussen reportedly added that he couldn't say how much additional financing Greece needs as the troika hasn't yet finished its talks in Athens.