The İMKB’s İMKB-100 index rose by 2.43 percent, or more than 1,200 points at 14:14 GMT to reach 50,883.27.
EU Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn made the call after a first round of talks with Greek officials amid growing market expectations of a trade-off between new deficit cutting steps and practical EU support for Greek borrowing. “I’m sure that together we shall overcome these formidable economic and fiscal challenges,” Rehn said after meeting Finance Minister George Papaconstantinou. A German government spokeswoman, however, maintained that it was up to Greece to pursue budget consolidation to win the confidence of markets and said that Berlin had nothing new to report on the issue of Greek debt.
Prime Minister George Papandreou appeared to be preparing the nation for more sacrifices in broadcast remarks to a cabinet meeting dramatizing the crisis and appealing for public support. Greece’s borrowing costs tumbled to their lowest level since mid-February on expectations that the government will agree to new tax increases and spending cuts to plug a budget gap which EU experts say has widened due to a lingering recession. That in turn could trigger practical EU support for Greece’s effort to borrow or refinance about 25 billion euros ($33.97 billion) by late May.
