European
ministers were expected to put pressure on Ireland to accept a bailout Tuesday
as a way to get the country out of its financial troubles.
Ministers
from the Eurogroup — the group of 16 European Union countries using the euro
currency — were holding a regularly scheduled meeting Tuesday evening in Brussels, a day after Ireland insisted it is not on the
verge of defaulting on debts.
There are
fears that Ireland’s
money woes could jeopardize the euro’s stability.
In
denying it faces default, Ireland’s
Ministry of Finance revealed Monday how serious the country’s potential problem
is.
“Ireland is
fully funded till well into 2011,” it said, suggesting less than a year’s
reserves are available.
The ministry
denied Ireland
had applied for a bailout, but said it was talking to “international
colleagues in light of current market conditions.”
The
European Union and International Monetary Fund were forced to step in to bail
Greece out in May of this year, coming up with a three-year, 110-billion-euro
(currently $150 billion) loan to save Greece from defaulting on debt.
Janet
Henry, the chief European economist at HSBC bank in London, estimated an Irish bailout could cost
80 billion euros ($109 billion).
The money
could be available within three to four weeks of a request from Dublin, she predicted,
saying the money would come from the EU and IMF.
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