US Treasury official to visit Athens, Rome this week

A senior US Treasury official will travel to the capitals of Greece and Italy this week to discuss efforts to achieve economic stability and growth in Europe, the Treasury announced Monday. Charles Collyns, the Treasury's assistant secretary for international finance and a former IMF economist, will be in Athens and Rome from Tuesday through Thursday, the department said in a statement. "Collyns will meet with senior government officials and private sector representatives to discuss economic and policy developments in Greece and Italy," it said. No other details of his visit were announced. Collyns's appearance in Europe comes against a backdrop of renewed fears that debt-riddled Greece may exit the eurozone and growing concerns that Spain and Italy may be the next to seek an international bailout. His visit, billed as "part of Treasury's ongoing bilateral engagement," will begin as Greece's global lenders -- the International Monetary Fund, the European Union and the European Central Bank -- are set to launch a new audit Tuesday of Greece's progress under its 130-billion-euro ($157.5 billion) bailout. The so-called troika's findings will determine whether Greece will receive fresh loans of 31.5 billion euros by September under debt rescue program. Without this money, the Greek government will be unable to redeem maturing debt and maintain salary and pension payments. US officials have voiced concerns about the long-running eurozone debt crisis, which has weighed on the global economy and hit US businesses. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner repeatedly has pointed to the eurozone crisis as a major risk facing the world's largest economy. Collyns heads the Treasury's work on international monetary policy and international financial institutions, such as the IMF, and coordinates with the Group of 20 major economies. Among positions held at the Washington-based IMF, Collyns led the research team responsible for preparing the global lender's semiannual World Economic Outlook report.