ECB welcomes eurozone accord

none@none.com (Syed Murtaza Gheblehzadeh) — Sat, 12 Mar 2011 06:07:09 +0500

BRUSSELS: European Central Bank head Jean-Claude Trichet said on Saturday he welcomed the accord agreed by eurozone leaders on bolstering debt support measures aimed to safeguard the euro. The ECB president said the measures marked a step "in the right direction" as he left a lengthy meeting which also adopted a pact on increasing economic policy coordination in the eurozone. After Greece was bailed out last May to save it from a debt default, the EU set up the European Financial Stability Facility with funds of 440 billion euros ($610 billion) but it can effectively only make available some 250 billion euros. Eurozone leaders said the EFSF, which will be replaced in 2013 by a permanent European Stability Mechanism, will be changed so that it can extend the full value of its funds to eurozone members in difficulty.

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ECB welcomes eurozone accord