Greece awaits bailout decision but issues remain

Euro zone governments are due to sign off today on a long-awaited rescue package for Greece, saving it from a potentially calamitous bankruptcy next month, senior officials say. But finance ministers meeting in Brussels still have a few last issues to wrangle over, such as tighter controls over Greece’s spending and further cuts to the country’s debt load. Greece needs to secure a roughly $170 billion bailout quickly so it can move ahead with a related $130 billion debt-relief deal with private investors, which needs to be in place quickly if Athens is to avoid a disorderly default on a bond repayment on March 20. “I am of the opinion that today we have to deliver, because we don’t have any more time,” says Jean-Claude Juncker, the prime minister of Luxembourg, who also chairs the meetings of euro zone finance ministers. An uncontrolled bankruptcy would likely force Greece to leave the 17-country currency union and return to its old currency, the drachma, further shaking its already beaten economy and creating uncertainty across Europe. Read the full story from The Associated Press here.