German minister: Greece needs third bailout

Germany’s finance minister admitted for the first time yesterday that Greece would need a third aid package, as a source in Athens said the sums involved in any new deal would be far smaller than previous rescues.

“There will have to be another programme in Greece,” Wolfgang Schaeuble told a campaign audience in northern Germany, in comments that raised the prospect of a step that could be deeply unpopular domestically just five weeks before national elections.

In Athens, a Greek finance ministry official said a new bailout would focus on plugging an expected funding shortfall over 2014- 2016.