Ireland may need financial bailout from IMF
International investors fear Ireland will be the next country to seek financial bailout from the IMF. Following Greece’s application for financial aid of €45bn from the IMF and the Eurozone countries, Ireland is now under the spotlight. A former IMF economist and Harvard economics professor, Ken Rogoff said Ireland was "conspicuously vulnerable" to defaulting on its debt. It was announced late last week that Ireland had the largest deficit in the Eurozone at 14.2 per cent of gross domestic product. This is primarily the result of the government’s bailout of the banking sector and, in particular, Anglo Irish Bank in June 2009. The investment of €4bn in Anglo Irish Bank was reclassified as debt by Europe last week putting the country in a precarious position.