Germany says does not rule out IMF aid for Greece

BERLIN | Fri Mar 19, 2010 8:05am EDT

BERLIN (Reuters) - The German government does not rule out aid from the International Monetary Fund for Greece, a government spokesman said on Friday.

"We remain confident that Greece's consolidation efforts will be successful," spokesman Ulrich Wilhelm told a regular government news conference, adding: "The signals from the capital markets have been encouraging that it's succeeding."

Wilhelm added: "The German government does not rule out IMF support." He said there was still no final decision in the German government on that question.

A spokesman for the Finance Ministry said German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble was reserved about the idea of the IMF helping Athens. He reiterated that Greece has not sought financial aid.

"Greece has our full political, technical and advisory support," Finance Ministry spokesman Michael Offer said, speaking at the same news conference.

The European Union's monetary affairs chief urged the bloc's leaders earlier on Friday to agree on a standby aid package for Greece next week after Athens said it could seek IMF help if it gets no firm promise of European aid.

EU heads of state and government are expected to discuss the issue at a summit in Brussels next week.

Despite the EU's verbal assurances of support, investors fear it could prove impossible to construct a euro zone financial safety net for the currency area's most heavily indebted member because of German reluctance.

(Reporting by Sarah Marsh and Erik Kirschbaum; writing by Paul Carrel; Editing by Ron Askew)
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Comments (2)
Story_Burn wrote:
Germany just needs to stay quiet about all of this. Same with France

Mar 19, 2010 8:28am EDT  --  Report as abuse
Kina wrote:
The EU is a joke and they have dragged this out much longer than necessary when the outcome was known very early on.

It was most apparent from the start that Germany had no intention of participating in a bail out. All the nonsense that followed as to cover up the fact that the EU would be doing nothing except telling Greece what to do.

They should have just referred Greece to the IMF early and all this mess over Europe would be out of the way…..or maybe we would all now be focussing on Spain?

Maybe then it is a good idea for the EU to drag this out to keep the focus off the rest of them.

Mar 19, 2010 10:27am EDT  --  Report as abuse
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