Eurozone governments finally came to the rescue of Greece early today, approving a second massive bail-out after months of wrangling and a last round of more than 12 hours of talks in Brussels.
Haggling over figures, financial targets and Greek government belt-tightening pledges went on through the night in a last-ditch attempt to rally markets and put crisis-hit Athens back on the path to economic recovery.
But the deal is based on long-range forecasts of Greek's best-case-scenario debt reduction chances over the next eight years, with some pundits instantly dismissing the deal as undeliverable.
In return for the latest 130bn euro bail-out and a private creditor debt write-off worth about another 100bn euros, the Greek government is pledged to implement fully a severe austerity package of pay, pension and jobs cuts, as well as finding savings of 325m euros in this year's national budget.
The deal nearly came unstuck over a requirement on Athens to get the Greek projected debt level down to around 120% of national wealth by 2020.
Extra hours of financial juggling brought eurozone negotiators close - at least on paper - by...
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