Global financial authorities launched an audacious package of measures in the early hours of Monday morning – including €720bn of government-backed loan guarantees and a commitment to buy European sovereign bonds – to combat escalating financial market tensions triggered by worldwide fears over public finances.
As part of a co-ordinated response to the growing uncertainty sparked by the Greek debt crisis, the European Central Bank announced it would intervene in government bond markets and join the US Federal Reserve and other main central banks in reactivating extra US dollar liquidity facilities.
The emergency funding facility agreed between European Union and the International Monetary Fund was worth as much as €720bn ($930bn, ￡625bn) in loan guarantees and credits to stabilise the eurozone.