German finance minister rules out rescue fund hike

Germany's finance minister on Monday ruled out a hike in bailout fund guarantees by eurozone members following the ratings downgrade of nine countries by Standard and Poor's. "The guarantees for the EFSF (European Financial Stability Facility) are largely enough for what it has to do in the coming months," Wolfgang Schaeuble told Deutschlandfunk public radio. Germany, Europe's top economy, is already the EFSF's main guarantor, which began with 440 billion euros ($556 billion) but has 250 billion euros left following rescues of Portugal and Ireland. Schaeuble again called for the influence of ratings agencies to be reduced to return "their role to what it really is." The EU was working on transparency rules for ratings agencies to avoid possible conflicts of interest, he added.