Greece expects bailout package to be confirmed this weekend
In a surprise development the Greek authorities have confirmed they expect bailout talks with the European Union and the IMF to be concluded this weekend, with a potential at EUR120 billion package on the table. This is far larger than the EUR45 billion package which had initially been suggested by the European Union and the IMF but it's somewhere near the figure that many experts had been forecasting. So is this the end of the saga?
It is likely that we will see short-term positive news from the Greek authorities but there are also concerns about other European economies which are struggling. The likes of Ireland, Portugal and Spain may well be in need of their own financial assistance from the European Union and the IMF and it is likely that investors will be looking for the next potential "faller". However, even though the Greek financial issue may soon be resolved there will be an enormous amount of industrial action across the country as the union's attempt to bring down the government.
We are talking about potentially hundreds of thousands of job losses in the Greece public sector and there is no way that employees or the unions will sit back and take this lying down.
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