agreed to boost the effective lending capacity of the European Financial Statbility Facility to its full 440 billion euros from the current 250 billion euros.
The increase will be achieved by euro zone countries increasing their guarantees for the EFSF's borrowing.
The leaders also agreed that the EFSF, set up in May last year and used to bail out Ireland, would lend money to governments that need it more cheaply for all new loans -- at the same rate as the International Monetary Fund does now.
To help countries already benefitting from EU/IMF aid, the leaders agreed to lower the interest on loans to Greece by 100 basis points and to extend the maturities of the credit to 7.5 years from 3 years.
Ireland, which also has EU/IMF loans, did not secure a lower interest rate for now because it refused to discuss a harmonised corporate tax base for the euro zone.
source: REUTERS
