IMF ready to help Greece

05/02/2010

PARIS, France -- IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn said on Thursday (February 4th) that the institution is ready to help Greece if asked. He voiced confidence that the country will be able to deal with its ailing public finances. "If they ask me to intervene, we will do it,” he told French radio RTL. Strauss-Kahn ruled out any risk of bankruptcy for Greece.

In reaction, Greek Alternate Foreign Minister Dimitris Droutsas reiterated Thursday that Athens plans to go it alone. "There is no thought at all about the IMF," Droutsas told reporters in New York, where he is visiting the UN. The European Commission backed Greece's austerity plan this week, giving the country until the end of 2012 to slash its huge budget deficit. Athens has promised to lower it from the 12.7% of GDP in 2009 to the EU-set ceiling of 3%. (Reuters, AP, Dow Jones - 04/02/10)