US raises pressure over euro debt crisis

The US has raised pressure on eurozone leaders to take decisive action to solve the debt crisis, by lowering troubled members’ borrowing costs, before a crucial European Central Bank meeting.

US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said the eurozone must take steps including “bringing down interest rates in the countries that are reforming and making sure those banking systems can provide the credit those economies need”.

Italy and Spain could lose access to credit markets as the risk premium that investors demand to hold their bonds rather than safe-haven German debt has spiralled to levels considered unsustainable in the long term.