IMF only offering 13 bn euros to Greek rescue: Schaeuble

The International Monetary Fund has offered to contribute 13 billion euros (USD 17.3 billion) so far to a second Greek bailout package, German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said here today.

That sum would come on top of 10 billion euros in IMF loan aid left over from an initial Greek rescue plan reached in May 2010, after eurozone finance ministers agreed to another rescue programme worth 130 billion euros from public creditors.

"The IMF has earmarked a possible sum of 13 billion euros in addition to 10 billion remaining from the earlier programme," Schaeuble told a press conference, confirming information that had already leaked out.

"We have raised the expectation that the IMF will continue to make a significant contribution" in aid to Greece, he added after a meeting of European Union finance ministers in Brussels.

The Fund is to consider how much it will contribute at a meeting scheduled for the second week in March and IMF chief Christine Lagarde has declined to give a precise figure on how much money it would add before then. Under terms approved by the eurozone finance ministers, Greece is to benefit from 130 billion euros in loans available until the end of 2014.

The IMF agreed to fund one third of the first Greek bailout, which was worth 110 billion euros, but it is wary of becoming over-exposed to eurozone countries. The Fund has also underwritten about a third of rescue plans for Ireland and Portugal.

A new contribution of 13 billion euros would thus probably disappoint Greece's eurozone partners. Joerg Asmussen, a German member of the European Central Bank's board, was clear in what he wanted from the Fund, saying: "We Europeans expect new (IMF) participation of one third" of the new Greek rescue. AFP