EU-IMF endorse Ireland bailout package

European Union (EU) finance ministers have endorsed an 85 billion euro bailout package for Ireland in an emergency meeting in Brussels.

The EU ministers and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) agreed to provide the bailout loans to Ireland to help the country weather its massive banking crisis, AP reported on Sunday.

Ireland’s Finance Ministry Brian Lenihan said the interest rates on the loans would be 6.05 percent from the eurozone fund, 5.7 percent from the EU fund, and 5.7 percent from the IMF.

The interest rate paid by Ireland is higher than the 5.2 percent interest rate being paid by Greece on its May bailout.

It is the second European country after Greece to receive a bailout package.

Ireland would contribute 17.5 billion euros ($24 billion) to its own rescue plan by running down its own cash stockpile and deploying its previously off-limits pension reserves in the bailout.

The three groups offering funds to Ireland, the 16-country eurozone, the full 27-nation EU and the global donors of the IMF, each committed 22.5 billion euros.

Meanwhile, new rules for future emergencies were sketched out in the meeting in an effort to restore faith in the euro currency.

According to the report, the European countries agreed on a mechanism which will tip the losses of future debt crises on private investors.