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Eurozone members have made a commitment to providing up to €30bn in loans to Greece over the next year to help stave off a debt crisis that has roiled financial markets and posed the most serious challenge to the euro in its history.

Those funds were agreed during an extraordinary teleconference of eurozone finance ministers on Sunday and would be supplemented by contributions from the International Monetary Fund that could yield an additional €15bn (£13.2bn, $20.2bn) according to European officials.

The rates charged to Athens would be around 5 per cent for a three-year fixed loan — above the IMF’s standard lending rate but below those currently demanded by jittery investors. Two-year Greek bonds were last week trading at 7.45 per cent.

At a press conference in Brussels on Sunday, European officials presented the three-year package as the detailed commitment that financial markets have been demanding after a series of vague communiqués failed to ease the crisis.

“This is the step of clarification the markets are waiting for,” said Jean-Claude Juncker, the Luxembourg prime minister and eurogroup president. “It shows there is money behind this.”

IMF managing director Dominique Strauss-Kahn said the eurozone agreement marked “an important step”, adding that the IMF was ready to contribute financing when necessary and would hold talks in Brussels Monday with the Commission and Greek authorities.

In Athens, George Papaconstantinou, Greek finance minister, made clear that the government had not yet asked for the money, and expressed confidence that the very existence of the package would allow his country to access debt markets at sustainable rates.

“We believe we can continue to borrow on the [international capital markets] without obstacles,” Mr Papaconstantinou said.

A key test of market sentiment will come on Monday, when Greece will attempt to raise €1.2bn through the sale of three and six-month paper.

Details of the rescue package were the result of months of sparring among eurozone members that revealed deep divisions about how to address the immediate crisis as well as broader disputes over economic governance.

One of the most contentious issues was interest rates, with Germany insisting that Greece pay “market rates” and France and other eurozone members pushing for easier terms.

Olli Rehn, Europe’s commissioner for economic and monetary affairs, insisted that the pricing agreed by the 16 eurozone members did not constitute a subsidy for Greece. Their contributions to any rescue would be proportional to their capital commitments to the European Central Bank, leaving Germany with the largest share.

Representatives from the Commission, the ECB and the Greek government will meet with the IMF on Monday to negotiate additional features of the package, including conditions that would be imposed on Athens and the exact size of the IMF contribution.

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Oil prices reached their highest level in nearly 18 months on Monday, pushing beyond the narrow range they were trading at during the first quarter of 2010, as the markets reacted to last week’s jobs report.

What prices are doing: Crude oil prices for May delivery rose $1.75, settling at $86.62. That’s their highest level since Oct. 8, 2008, when crude settled at $88.95.

What’s moving the market: Monday was a light trading day for oil, as markets across Europe were closed for the day-after Easter holiday. Markets in Hong Kong and China were also closed.

Reports showing job growth and increased manufacturing and services activity have driven oil prices up, as investors expect U.S. demand for oil to increase hand-in-hand with an economic recovery.

Monday marked the first day investors could react to Friday’s U.S. jobs report, since markets were closed for Good Friday.

The report showed that employers added 162,000 jobs last month, after dropping 14,000 jobs in February. The unemployment rate was unchanged at 9.7%.

Investors also welcomed a report showing significant growth in the service sector in March. The Institute for Supply Management’s non-manufacturing index, released Monday, rose 4.5% higher from February.

What analysts are saying: “People are looking at U.S. economic indicators and they’re seeing the signs that things have improved, and that’s been one of the things strutting this on,” said Rachel Ziemba, an energy analyst with Roubini Global Economics. “But it’s too soon to tell the strength of this recovery.”

Crude oil has been trading in the high $70s and low $80s since late December, and is reaching a key testing point as it surpasses the $85 mark, Ziemba said. The question now is: How long will the market be able to sustain the higher prices?

“I don’t see much support above $85. Economic growth both in the U.S. and globally could slow significantly in the second half of the year,” Ziemba said.

Looking ahead: Investors will be looking closely at news surrounding tensions on Chinese currency after Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said Saturday he would delay an April 15 report on whether China manipulates its currency.

American officials are putting pressure on China to allow the yuan to appreciate in value. The Chinese government has kept the yuan relatively unchanged against the dollar since mid-2008.

China is the world’s second-largest energy consumer after the United States and any news about the country’s monetary policy can be a major market mover for oil prices. To top of page

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The United States dropped a record $220.9 billion further into the red in February, the Treasury Department reported Wednesday.

The shortfall was up from the previous record $193.9 billion shortfall in February last year.

It’s the 17th straight month that the U.S. government has posted deficits. The last time the government posted a monthly surplus was in September 2008, when the government reduced the deficit by $45.7 billion.

The cumulative deficit for fiscal 2010, which started in October, reached $651.6 billion, up from $589.8 billion in the same period the year before. The Obama administration is forecasting that the deficit will hit $1.56 trillion this year.

Spending increases overshadow revenue boost: Wednesday’s announcement came as little surprise to economists, who expected the deficit for February to total $222 billion, according to a consensus compiled by Briefing.com.

Receipts totaled $107.5 billion, up from $87 billion in February last year and outlays totaled $328.4 billion, up from $281 billion.

Despite the government’s record losses, the year-over-year boost in revenue during February is at least one hopeful sign that the economy is faring better, said Robert Bixby, executive director for the Concord Coalition, a federal budget watchdog group. It was the first time since April 2008 that the government posted higher revenue when comparing monthly data year-over-year.

The overall losses were most likely driven by the recession and tax refunds, said Nathan Topper, an associate economist with Moody’s Economy.com.

February is traditionally a big deficit month for the government, as Uncle Sam starts writing tax refund checks, he said. And because the recession dampens business profits and wages, refunds spike. There were $65 billion in tax refunds recorded in February this year, compared with $77 billion last year and an average of $49 billion for last decade, according to Moody’s Economy.com.

Spending up: The government shelled out $65 billion to Health and Human Services, $62 billion in Social Security expenses and $48.9 billion to the Department of Defense in February. Spending is up in all those departments for the first five months of the government’s fiscal year, over the same period last year.

Corporate income tax refunds were higher than usual because of legislation that allows them to apply current losses against prior profits to become eligle for refunds.

In February, the President Obama signed into a law a record $1.9 trillion increase to the government’s debt limit, bringing the new cap to about $14.3 trillion. To top of page

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