ATHENS, Greece (AP) -- Greece's government warned Tuesday that the debt-crippled country will have to ditch the euro if it fails to finalize a second, euro130 billion ($169 billion) international bailout.
Spokesman Pantelis Kapsis said negotiations in the next three or four months with international debt monitors will "determine everything," including whether Greece escapes a disastrous bankruptcy.
Greece is being kept afloat by a first, euro110 billion ($142 billion) international bailout agreed in May 2010, after investors shocked by the country's huge budget deficit and debt mountain demanded sky-high interest rates to continue buying Greek bonds.
An additional bailout was agreed in October, when it became clear that the first batch of funds would not suffice, but that deal has yet to be finalized.
Sorting out the details of the bailout, which also foresees a euro100 billion writedown of Greece's privately held debt, is the main task of the coalition government headed by former central banker Lucas Papademos, whose short mandate is expected to expire in early April.
"This famous loan agreement must be signed, otherwise we are outside the markets, out of the euro and things will become much worse," Kapsis told private Skai TV.
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/greece-no-second-bailout-no-141331172.html
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