Tuesday, June 14, 2011

TIMELINE-Greece's debt crisis



June 14 | Tue Jun 14, 2011 7:32am EDT
(Reuters) - Here is a timeline of economic events in Greece since Prime Minister George Papandreou first sealed a bailout deal in May 2010:

May 2, 2010 - Papandreou says Greece has sealed deal with EU and IMF, opening door to a bailout in return for extra budget cuts of 30 billion euros ($43 billion) over three years.

-- Three-year package amounts to 110 billion euros and represents first rescue of a member of then 16-nation euro zone.

May 4/5 - Public sector workers stage 48-hour nationwide strike. Three people are killed when a bank is set on fire.

May 6 - Greek parliament approves latest austerity bill.

May 9 - The IMF unanimously approves its part of the rescue loans, with 5.5 billion euros being provided immediately.

May 10 - Global policymakers install an emergency safety net worth about $1 trillion to bolster financial markets and prevent the Greek crisis from damaging the euro.

-- It consists of 440 billion euros in guarantees from euro zone states, plus 60 billion euros in European debt instruments. EU finance ministers say the IMF will contribute a further 250 billion euros.

May 18 - Greece receives a 14.5 billion euro ($18.7 billion) loan from the EU and can now repay its immediate debt.

July 7 - Greek parliament passes pension reform, a key requirement of the EU/IMF deal, cutting benefits, curbing widespread early retirement and raising women's retirement age from 60 to match men at 65.

Aug. 5 - EU and IMF inspectors give Greece the green light for a fresh 9 billion euro tranche from the bailout.

September - The IMF says Greece is ahead of schedule in economic reform and it will disburse an additional 2.57 billion euros under a standby loan.

Oct 4 - Greece submits a 2011 draft budget to parliament pledging to cut the 2011 budget deficit faster than agreed in the IMF/EU bailout deal.

Jan. 2011 - Fitch becomes the third rating agency to cut Greek debt to "junk" status after S&P and Moody's.

Feb. 11 - EU and IMF inspectors approve a fresh tranche of 15 billion euros of bailout funds, but warn its fiscal programme could fail unless it accelerates reforms and scales up privatisations.

April 8 - Eurogroup Chairman Jean-Claude Juncker warns Greece of the importance of controlling spending, a day after news that the 2010 budget deficit overshot forecasts at more than 10 percent of GDP.

April 15 - Greece presents new fiscal and privatisation plans to convince investors it can meet the terms of an EU/IMF bailout and avoid restructuring its debt.

May 9 - Standard and Poor's cuts Greece's credit rating further into junk territory to B, one notch above Pakistan's.

May 11 - EU and IMF inspectors arrive in Athens to press Greece to shore up its finances and determine if the debt-choked country will get a fifth aid tranche of 12 billion euros.

-- About 20,000 protesters march to parliament to mark a nationwide strike against wage cuts and tax hikes, a number smaller than previous protests.

May 21 - Greece must avoid debt restructuring and push on with budget cuts and privatisations to overcome its debt crisis, Papandreou and senior ECB officials say.

May 23 -- Greece unveils a series of privatisations, part of a goal to raise 50 billion euros by 2015 to pay down its debt.

May 29 - Thousands of protesters denounce Greece's ruling class and vent their anger at the IMF and its demands for yet more belt-tightening.

June 1 - Moody's slashes Greece's credit rating by three notches to deep into junk territory.

June 3 - Greece is likely to get a vital slice of aid in July to avoid default, international lenders say, as they end a month-long review of their 110 billion euro bailout programme.

June 8 - Greece agrees to 6.48 billion euros of extra austerity measures for 2011 and savings up to 2015 to cut deficits and keep getting aid, an official document shows.

June 9 - The Greek government approves and submits to parliament the mid-term fiscal and privatisation plan required by the EU and the IMF to restore the country's finances.

-- GDP tumbles 5.5 percent in Q1 official data shows, far more than a earlier of flash estimate of 4.8 percent, signalling a second wave of austerity measures demanded by the EU and IMF.

-- The new bailout being put together for Greece may now total around 120 billion euros ($175.3 billion), euro zone official sources say.

June 12 - More than 20,000 Greeks protest against austerity measures in Athens and workers at state-owned utility PPC announce strikes to oppose government plans to sell the company.

June 13 - Greece becomes the country with the lowest credit rating in the world after S&P downgrades it by three notches, to CCC, just four steps away from default, from B. The short-term rating is affirmed at C and all the ratings are removed from credit watch.

June 14 - Greek protesters vow to cordon off parliament to prevent deputies from debating new austerity measures, and unions say they would bring the country to a halt in a national strike on June 15

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