| Business | October 17, 2008 10:47 AM EST |
| Britain calls for more bailout packages |
| By Luisana Suegart from Markets.com |
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown is urging leading economies to devise bailout plans to help restore confidence and provide relief during the financial crisis.
In a letter written to French President Nicolas Sarkozy, and copied to the leaders of the EU and the European Commission, Brown elucidated on the UK’s $80 billion rescue package and called for similar actions. Leaders of other Group of Seven nations, including Canada and Japan, were also addressed.
So far, the EU has taken some measures to deal with the intense market downfalls. On Tuesday, the Union’s 27 governments voted to guarantee private savings up to 50,000 euros; a 100,000-euro agreement could not be reached due to smaller nations’ fears that they could not afford to cover that amount. EU nations, however, are able to guarantee over the agreed upon 50,000 euros.
So far, Spain and the UK are the only European nations to create rescue packages. On Tuesday, Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero revealed that Spain would spend $68 billion to buy assets from its banks, as well as increase its deposit guarantee to 100,000 euros, twice the amount agreed upon by the EU.
Other EU nations have taken smaller measures; on Tuesday, Iceland announced it would nationalize Landsbanski, its second-largest bank, and accept a $5.4 billion loan from Russia for relief. Earlier today, Britain, Sweden and Switzerland cut their chief interests by half a percentage point.
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