PRESS ASSOCIATION -- Stock exchanges are braced for the start of another potentially turbulent week as they react to reports of a three trillion euro bailout package.
Share prices tumbled around the world last week amid mounting frustration at the failure of eurozone countries to act to resolve the Greek debt crisis which is threatening global turmoil.
Finance ministers gathered in Washington for crisis talks were reported to have accepted that Athens would be allowed to default on some of its debts.
Chancellor George Osborne warned that decisive action was required within six weeks, saying the world had reached a "dangerous phase" amid fears of a renewed recession.
He said he was "optimistic" however that the gathering of colleagues from the G20 nations and a meeting of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) had made progress.
A plan to rescue the European single currency, costing two-three trillion euros (£2.6 trillion), could be revealed within days, according to several reports.
It is believed to involve beefing up the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) and an injection of funds into a number of continental banks.
The plans would lead to an orderly default by Greece but allow the country to remain within the eurozone in a bid to relieve some of the economic pressure on Spain and Italy.
After Saturday's meeting, the IMF sought to reassure markets, managing director Christine Lagarde saying there had been a "common diagnosis and a shared sense of common purpose".
The situation remained "precarious" however, the IMF noted, and suggested that it may not have the funds to bail out larger eurozone economies if the crisis is allowed to spread. That raised fears among eurosceptics about a potential new call on UK funds.