No need for economic aid, say Greeks

Greece is not seeking aid to pull its debt-ridden economy out of its worst fiscal crisis in decades, its finance minister insisted today.

The EU has been pressing it to implement a strict austerity plan and plug its debilitating budget deficit, which stands at more than four times the agreed limit of 3% of gross domestic product.

Greece’s debt was 113% of annual output for 2009, and is expected to reach 120.4 % this year.

There have been fears that the country would be unable to deal with the crisis and would seek help from abroad or a bailout.

But Finance Minister George Papaconstantinou stressed that the country was capable of dealing with the crisis.

“We’re not expecting anyone to come to our aid,” he said. “Greece has neither asked for, nor is it expecting, anything of the sort.”

Earlier this week, some EU leaders expressed confidence that Greece would pull itself out of the crisis after Athens submitted a plan to cut public expenditure and tighten its notoriously lax tax system.

The Greek problem has undermined the euro and could have a knock-on effect on other weak European economies, particularly Ireland, Portugal and Spain.

Greece also now has to borrow from international markets at considerably higher rates than other eurozone members.

It faces an uphill struggle in regaining international credibility after it sharply revised deficit forecasts and the EU found its statistics had been falsified in the past under political pressure. The country has also suffered a string of international credit rating downgrades.

“My sense is that we’re building that confidence back,” Papaconstantinou said, adding that Greece would be able to satisfy its full borrowing requirements in international markets “in the next weeks and months.”