In early 2010 fears of a sovereign debt crisis[1] developed concerning some countries in the European Union (EU) member states[2] including: Greece, Spain,[3] and Portugal.[4] This led to a crisis of confidence as well as the widening of bond yield spreads and risk insurance on credit default swaps between these countries and other Eurozone members, most importantly Germany.[5]
Concern about rising government deficits and debt levels[6][7] across the globe together with a wave of downgrading of European Government debt[8] has created alarm on financial markets. The debt crisis has been mostly centred on recent events in Greece, where there is concern about the rising cost of financing government debt. On May 2, the Eurozone countries and the International Monetary Fund agreed to a €110 billion loan for Greece, conditional on the implementation of harsh Greek austerity measures.[9]
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