Eurozone: Big four vow billions to boost growth

ROME: The leaders of the eurozone’s four biggest economies vowed measures worth up to $163 billion to tackle the bloc’s relentless debt crisis. Meeting for talks in Rome ahead of a crucial EU summit in Brussels next week, the leaders of Germany, France, Italy and Spain looked to soothe global worries with promises to kickstart growth in the bloc’s floundering economies. French President Francois Hollande said the leaders had agreed to mobilise “one percent of European GDP, which is 120 to 130 billion euros, to support growth” -- a move Germany’s Angela Merkel hailed as “an important signal”. “The measures would include a capital injection for the European Investment Bank, the redirection of some unspent EU regional funds and “project bonds” to finance infrastructure works. With the two-year-old crisis threatening to engulf Spain and Italy and weighing down the global economy, Europe’s leaders are under intense pressure to find solutions.

Published In The Express Tribune, June 24^th, 2012.