Cyprus asks for EU bailout as Big Four finance ministers meet

Tiny Cyprus, the third smallest economy in the euro zone, has asked for a 10 billion euro bailout. The entire economic output of the island is only 17.3 billion euros, but the financial sector is heavily exposed to Greek banks and there is a 1.7 billion shortfall that must be covered. Meanwhile, the finance ministers of Italy, Spain, Germany, and France will meet tonight ahead of the EU summit meeting that begins tomorrow to try and come up with a short term solution to the eurozone's woes. Reuters: Finance chiefs of the euro zone's four biggest economies will hold last-minute talks in Paris on Tuesday evening to try to narrow differences on the currency area's future after Cyprus became the fifth country to request a bailout. The finance ministers' session was called at such short notice - in an apparent rush to repair damage from a public rift between Merkel and leaders of the other three states when they met in Rome last Friday - that one finance minister's press staff...(Read Full Post)