Goldman says IMF, Greece may strike €20bn deal

The International Monetary Fund could hand Greece up to €20bn via an 18-month aid programme, according to Goldman Sachs’s Chief European Economist Erik Nielsen. Bloomberg cited Nielsen saying the cash-strapped nation was “very likely” to ask the Washington-based lender for support within the next few months if not weeks, as it struggled to cut the biggest budget deficit in the European Union. The e-mail statement added that a decision on Greece had most likely already been reached and that an announcement could come ahead of the EU summit on Thursday.