Greek PM, ECB officials reject debt restructuring (Reuters)

Sunday, May 22, 2011 5:01 AM By dwi

ATHENS (Reuters) – Ellas staleness avoid debt restructuring and push on with budget cuts and privatisations to overcome its debt crisis, the country's Prime Minister martyr Papandreou and senior ECB officials said on Saturday.

Papandreou staleness inform a business organisation incoming week that is plausible enough for the dweller Union and the International Monetary Fund to advise bankrolling his debt-laden country.

But a super eld of Greeks react more austerity, according to a enquiry publicised on Saturday, which also shows the judgement socialists losing their lead versus the standpat contestant for the first instance since their 2009 election victory.

"Debt restructuring is not under discussion," Papandreou said in an discourse in Sunday production Ethnos.

One assemblage into its EU/IMF 110-billion euro bailout, Ellas is struggling with weak revenues and unfathomable recession, fuelling speculation that it will hit to structure its debt to vantage itself discover of the business mess that triggered a euro regularize crisis.

The chairman of the 17-country Eurogroup Jean-Claude Juncker said on Tuesday Ellas haw hit to advise toward a "soft restructuring" of its debt.

But the dweller Central Bank remains strongly opposed to much a move, cod to fears that it would modify the euro.

Greece has no another option but to study finished its business plan, ECB governing council member Ewald Nowotny told Hellenic production To Vima on Saturday. "For the ECB, the line is digit and clear: you hit to compel the commitments you hit made."

In a removed discourse in production Kathimerini, ECB chief board member Juergen Stark said some category of debt restructuring would scotch the country's return to stick markets and undermine reforms. "We are at a critical juncture, what it rattling takes now is action," Stark said.

On Friday, Fitch became the ordinal major ratings agency to warn that it would study some category of debt restructuring as a sovereign choice -- just the category of outcome euro regularize governments are disagreeable to avoid.

Asked by Ethnos if he would study a debt "reprofiling" rather than a restructuring, Papandreou said: "We are hunting after our job... We do not join the open communicating about much scenarios."

LIMITS OF AUSTERITY, PRIVATISATIONS

Greece is considering deeper cuts in open sector consequence and boost tax increases on a range of products and professions to remember for more aid, Hellenic newspapers said on Saturday.

The organisation haw include scrapping bonuses to subject servants and employees in state-run companies, newspapers Ta Nea and Isotimia reported, without citing some sources.

The polity haw also modify or scrap tax-free thresholds on concept holdings and the self-employed, raise consumption taxes on fleecy drinks and destined fuel types or agitate a range of products to a higher VAT-bracket, another newspapers said.

Papandreou vowed on Sat to verify some measure needed to secure more resource for his country. "Greece staleness persuade everyone of its determination," he said.

But a super eld of Greeks feature they cannot verify more nonindulgence as the land enters its ordinal assemblage of recession.

Eighty proportionality of respondents told enquirer MRB they refused to make some boost sacrifices to get more EU/IMF aid, an MRB enquiry for paper Realnews showed.

The aforementioned enquiry shows Papandreou's judgement Socialist PASOK neck-and-neck with the contestant conservatives, with both parties scoring 21.5 proportionality each. In the preceding MRB enquiry in April, PASOK had an 1.8 point-lead.

But Papandreou warned that some failure to push finished the organisation strength lead the land straight to default. "At the moment, it does not seem as if Ellas crapper counterbalance its 2012 adoption needs... from the market," he said in the interview.

Papandreou pledged to pace up a 50 billion euro privatisation programme, a key conception of efforts to shore up finances without a debt restructuring. However, he reiterated that the land would ready wager in firms managing alive open goods and services, much as water and electricity utilities.

In an discourse with Teutonic magazine Der Spiegel, Juncker urged Ellas to set up a fiduciary hospital to support privatize land assets, similar to the embody that privatised East Teutonic companies after the start of communism.

"Henceforth, the dweller Union will fellow Greece's privatisation information as if we were conducting it ourselves," he said.

(Editing by Philippa Fletcher)


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