Slovakia approves EFSF expansion

Slovakia has become the final eurozone nation to approve the expansion of the European Financial Stability Facility after its parliament ratified the plan at a second vote.

The country is the last of the 17 eurozone nations to approve the expansion of the bailout fund to €440bn, and only did so after an initial vote earlier this week brought down its government. Prime minister Iveta Radičová had tied the ratification to a vote of confidence in her government in the initial vote on Tuesday, and saw her cabinet fall once the vote was rejected. Markets were relatively unmoved by the news, however, policymakers having already widely suggested they would approve the EFSF at the second vote, held today. The expansion of the EFSF's powers will allow it to bu...