ATHENS, The Greek government will take
any new measures needed to tackle the debt-ridden economy after
submitting a crisis plan to the European Union, the finance minister
said in an interview published Sunday.
“If there is something lacking, we will take additional
measures,” George Papaconstantinou told the To Vima newspaper.
Greece on Friday submitted a growth and stability programme
to the European Commission detailing measures to bring the
country out of its major financial crisis.
Greece has a public spending deficit that rose to 12.7 percent
of output last year, far above the 3.0 percent ceiling for countries
using the euro currency.
It is also saddled with a debt constituting 113 percent of
gross domestic product, which last month prompted the leading rating agencies to downgrade Greece’s credit standing.
The Socialist government, which came to power in October, on
Thursday unveiled a three-year crisis blueprint to cut back a public
deficit of over 30 billion euros (43.1 billion dollars) and rein in government debt estimated to exceed 294 billion euros this year.
The plan aims to save more than 10.3 billion euros in 2010
with improved tax collection, cost cuts and reduced arms spending to
bring the public deficit to 2.8 percent of output by 2012.
Greece has suffered a credibility problem over unreliable
economic figures and European finance ministers on Tuesday are expected
to tell Athens to clean up its accounting and improve the administration
of key institutions, according to a draft statement seen by AFP.