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BRUSSELS — Eurozone finance ministers agreed in principle on Friday to extend heavily indebted Greece’s financial rescue by four months, averting a potential cash crunch in March that could have forced the country out of the currency area.

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As European policymakers struggle to reach a deal to keep Greece from a bankruptcy, experts are making rough estimates of the potential costs of failure.





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“It’s done. For four months,” one said.

The deal, to be ratified once Greece’s creditors are satisfied with a list of reforms it will submit next week, ended weeks of uncertainty since the election of a radical leftist-led government in Athens pledged to reverse austerity measures.

“Tonight was a first step in this process of rebuilding trust,” Jeroen Dijsselbloem, chairman of the 19-nation Eurogroup, told a news conference. “We have established common ground again to reach agreement on this statement.”