IMF chief says would help Greece if asked

PARIS Feb 4 (Reuters) - The International Monetary Fund would help Greece if asked but the fund's head said on Thursday he had confidence that the government would introduce the necessary steps to solve the country's problems.

"We are there to help. I have a mission in place providing technical advice at the request of the Greek government and if they ask me to intervene, we will do it. But I totally understand the Europeans who want to try and sort the problem out amongst themselves," IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn told France's RTL radio.

He said the Greek situation was "very serious" but he did not think the country was on the verge of bankruptcy.

(Reporting by Anna Willard; Editing by Marcel Michelson)