Timeline: Greek debt crisis

ATHENS, Greece – Here are key dates in Greece’s debt crisis, ahead of Friday’s last-chance bid to resolve a bitter feud over Athens’ huge EU-IMF bailout and avoid a potential “Grexit” from the eurozone.

 2009 

• December: The European Union raises the alarm about Greece’s public finances. The three main credit ratings agencies – Fitch, Standard & Poor’s and Moody’s – downgrade Greece’s debt.

 • January 14: The government unveils an austerity plan to put its fiscal house in order and to restore international credibility.

Under the plan, it promises curbs on public sector hiring and pay, a 10-percent cut in civil servant benefits and a reduction in military spending, along with 90 percent taxes on bank bonuses and an overhaul of the fiscal

•  April 23: With a public debt of 350 billion euros ($435 billion), Greece appeals for aid from the EU and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) because it can no longer borrow on the markets.

This leads to the spectre of a Greek default on part of its debt falling due in May and failure to meet its bills falling due for the rest of the year, with the prospect its woes could be replicated in other eurozone

• May 3: Greece becomes the first eurozone country to receive a bailout as the EU and IMF announce a 110-billion-euro package in exchange for tough austerity measures, including harsh wage cuts and tax hikes.

2011

• October 27: After Greece’s economic situation deteriorates even more, the eurozone proposes a second bailout package of 130 billion euros, under which private sector creditors agree to write off 100 billion euros of its debt.

2014

 • December 8: Eurozone ministers approve a two-month extension to Greece’s bailout, which was set to end December 31, amid an ongoing dispute over budget provisions between Athens and its EU-IMF creditors.

This gives Athens extra time to fulfill reform commitments. 

2015  

• January 25: Leftist anti-austerity party Syriza, led by Alexis Tsipras, wins Greece’s snap election, on a mandate to renegotiate the unpopular bailout and erase over half the country’s •  February 12: The government fails to reach a deal with eurozone ministers on renegotiating the bailout.

Athens proposes to overhaul 30 percent of its reform commitments. It also wants a debt swap that will free up funds for economic growth, a bridging loan until September to buy time to hammer out new reforms, and to reverse austerity measures demanded of previous 

• February 19: Greek authorities send a request for a six-month extension to their EU loan programme, but austerity-fond Germany rejects the plan.

• The coming months: Greece’s bailout is due to expire at the end of February and failure to agree an extension would see Greece default on its giant debts, almost inevitably meaning that it would crash out of the euro.

On July 20 Greece faces a huge repayment to the ECB of 3.5 billion euros and owes the bank another 3.2 billion euros on August 20. – Rappler.com