Greece debt crisis

Trying again to halt a debt crisis that has hammered the euro, fellow eurozone governments tossed struggling Greece a financial lifeline Sunday, saying they would make euro30 billion in loans available this year alone -- if Athens asks for the money.

The International Monetary Fund stands ready to chip in another euro10 billion, said Olli Rehn, the EU monetary affairs chief.

The promise -- filling in details of a March 25 pledge of joint eurozone-IMF help -- was another attempt to calm markets that have been selling off Greek bonds in recent days.

Markets viewed the March pledge as too vague and carrying such tough restrictions that Greece could not easily get the money. As a result, investors demanded high rates to loan to the government as it struggles to avoid default -- rates the government says it can't go on paying. Greece has some euro54 billion in debt coming due this year and a huge budget deficit.

In an emergency video conference, the finance ministers of the 16-eurozone nations agreed on a complex three-year financing formula that generates an interest rate of "around 5 percent."

This is less than commercial market rates -- which have soared above 7 percent on Greek 10-year borrowing in recent weeks as the debt crisis dragged on -- but more than beneficiaries of IMF usually pay. European Central Bank president Jean-Claude Trichet and German Chancellor Angela Merkel have insisted that Greece not get below-market interest rates amounting to an EU subsidy for its past bad behavior.

"This is certainly no subsidy" to Greece, Rehn told a news conference.

The test of Sunday's announcement will be whether it restores confidence that Greece will not default and gives it a chance to borrow normally at lower rates. Under last week's rates, Greece would have had to pay more than twice what Germany pays.

The danger is that interest payments themselves begin to sink the budget despite severe cutbacks imposed in recent days. A Greek default would be a serious blow to the euro, rattle markets and inflict losses on European banks that have bought Greek government bonds.

Greek Finance Minister George Papaconstantinou said Greece had not asked for the plan to be activated, and still hoped to borrow on markets rather than seeking a rescue.

"The Greek government has not asked for the activation of the mechanism, even though this is already immediately available," Papaconstantinou said in Athens. "The aim is, and we believe we will continue to borrow unhindered on the markets."

Officials, speaking privately, told The Associated Press they first want to see how markets react on Monday.

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said the pledge of cash for Greece showed the 16 euro-zone nations will defend Europe's single currency and help a partner in trouble.

"It shows that the euro area is serious in doing what is necessary to secure financial stability," Barroso said in a statement.

"I am convinced that it will help Greece to continue vigorously correct public finances imbalances and to deliver the necessary structural reforms."

Rehn said the loan deal will be "the clarification that the markets are waiting for."

Those markets, however, have so far ignored repeated EU claims of support for Greece causing commercial lending rates for Athens to go to 7 percent and more in recent weeks.

At two summit meetings -- one in February and one in March -- the EU leaders made determined noises about their readiness to end the Greek debt crisis.

But the terms were tough, with Greece needing approval of all 15 other eurozone governments and only if it could not borrow any other way. German fears a bailout with soft loans will only rile German public opinion which already takes a dim view of Greece's financial housekeeping.

EU and IMF officials will meet Monday to work out details of IMF and EU lending for 2011 and 2012, especially on amounts and loan conditions. Officials estimated that over a three-year period Greece was being offered a total of euro80 billion in financial aid by the EU and the IMF.

Greece has been spending beyond its means for years, leaving it with a 2009 budget deficit of 12.9 percent of economic output. The revelation of its statistics fudging has slammed the euro and gutted market confidence, fueling higher borrowing costs.

Athens plans to cut its deficit to 8.7 percent this year and has launched a euro4.8 billion austerity program cutting public sector wages, freezing pensions and hiking taxes.

Fed reduces AIG's debt by $25 billion

AIG announced Tuesday that it completed a deal wiping out $25 billion of its debt to taxpayers by selling stakes in two subsidiaries to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

The troubled insurer gave the New York Fed preferred shares of two of its international life insurance companies, including $16 billion of American International Assurance Co. and $9 billion of American Life Insurance Co. The deal was originally announced in March.

The deal brings the New York-based insurer's debt to the New York Fed down to $17 billion. AIG also still owes the U.S. Treasury $44.8 billion from a separate Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) loan, so the insurer still owes taxpayers just under $62 billion.

AIG Chief Executive Bob Benmosche said, in a press release, that the debt reduction "sends a clear message to taxpayers: AIG continues to make good on its commitment to pay the American people back."

AIG's (AIG, Fortune 500) stock rose more than 4% on the news in morning trading.

"The agreements further the goals of enabling AIG to fully repay the assistance that it has received from U.S. taxpayers and advancing the company's global restructuring process," the New York Fed said in a statement when the deal was first announced in March.

The Federal Bank of New York initially provided $85 billion worth of support to AIG in September 2008, when the company was on the brink of collapse. AIG's government rescue plan has since been restructured three times, and its total bailout is now worth up to $182 billion.

But much of that bailout has come in the form of government asset purchases that AIG does not need to repay. In addition to the $25 billion announced on Tuesday, the government in March bought up nearly $40 billion of insurance agreements and mortgage-backed securities held by AIG and its business partners.

To pay back the remaining $62 billion it owes the government, AIG will continue to sell off its assets. Despite recording two straight profitable quarters, AIG has said it will not generate enough earnings to repay taxpayers with profits alone.

AIG said Tuesday's transaction will force the company to take a hefty $5.7 billion restructuring charge in the current quarter, which will likely wipe out any profits AIG would have registered in the last three months of 2009.

Despite the government support, the company still faces a steep uphill battle to return to health. Shares of the insurer tumbled 15% Monday, after Bernstein Research analyst Todd Bault told investors that he cut the 12-month price target to $12 a share from $20 because the insurer's "loss reserves are significantly deficient again, much sooner than we would have forecast two years ago."

On Nov. 25, AIG announced that it had resolved its legal dispute with former chairman Maurice "Hank" Greenberg.

Obama Administration Tries to Reassure China on Treasury Debt

The U.S. sought to ease Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao’s concern about the security of his country’s investments in U.S. government debt, reiterating pledges to cut the budget deficit in half in four years.

“There’s no safer investment in the world than in the United States,” White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said yesterday at a briefing in Washington.

Gibbs was responding to comments from Wen that China, the U.S. government’s largest creditor, is “worried” about its holdings of Treasuries and wants assurances that the investment is safe. “I request the U.S. to maintain its good credit, to honor its promises and to guarantee the safety of China’s assets,” Wen said at a press briefing in Beijing.

President Barack Obama is relying on China to sustain buying of Treasuries amid record amounts of U.S. debt sales to fund a $787 billion stimulus package and a deficit this year forecast to reach $1.5 trillion. Investors abroad own almost half of all U.S. debt outstanding, and China last year overtook Japan as the biggest foreign buyer.

Wen’s comments contributed to a decline in Treasuries yesterday. Yields on benchmark 10-year notes rose as high as 2.96 percent, from 2.85 percent a day earlier, and closed at 2.89 percent.

White House National Economic Council Director Lawrence Summers, asked yesterday about Wen’s remarks, said overseas “confidence” in Treasuries would be hurt without the administration’s steps to end the economy’s decline.

Japan, China

China held $696 billion in U.S. Treasury debt as of Dec. 31, more than Japan’s holdings of $578 billion. Foreign holdings of U.S. Treasury debt at the end of last year totaled $3.1 trillion.

The Treasury also offered a response that sought to reassure investors.

“The U.S. Treasury market remains the deepest and most liquid market in the world,” Treasury spokeswoman Heather Wong said in an e-mailed statement. “President Obama is committed to taking the steps necessary to restore growth and put this country on the path of fiscal sustainability, including cutting the long-term deficit in half over the next four years.”

During the first five months of fiscal 2009, which began Oct. 1, the U.S. budget deficit swelled to a record $764.5 billion for the period, compared with a $265 billion shortfall during the same period a year earlier. The shortfall this year already has exceeded the record $459 billion gap for all of 2008.

‘Stronger Position’

The administration is “tackling many long-ignored problems, ensuring that the U.S. will be in a stronger position than ever,” Wong said. “We are facing whatever challenges come up and will continue to do so.”

Treasuries have handed investors a loss of 2.7 percent in yuan terms this year, according to Merrill Lynch & Co.’s U.S. Treasury Master index. Chinese holdings of the securities surged 46 percent last year, according to Treasury Department data.

“Of course we are concerned about the safety of our assets,” Wen said after an annual meeting of the legislature. “To be honest, I am a little bit worried.”

Diversifying Reserves

China should seek to “fend off risks” as it diversifies its $1.95 trillion in foreign-exchange reserves, Wen said. Yu Yongding, a former adviser to the central bank, said in an interview on Feb. 10 that the nation should seek guarantees that its Treasury holdings won’t be eroded by “reckless policies.”

Treasuries have benefited from demand as a haven in the past two years as financial companies reported $1.2 trillion in credit losses. China boosted holdings of government debt as it lost more than $5 billion from investing $10.5 billion of its reserves in New York-based Blackstone Group LP, Morgan Stanley and TPG Inc. since mid-2007.

“China won’t sell the U.S. debt now as that will only drive down Treasury prices, hurting not only the U.S. but also the value of its own investments,” said Shen Jianguang, a Hong Kong-based economist at China International Capital Corp., an investment bank partly owned by Morgan Stanley.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton urged China, while visiting officials in Beijing on Feb. 22, to continue buying U.S. debt, which she called a “safe investment.”