Greece will not restructure public debt: Finance Minister

Greece does not intend to restructure its public debt, Finance Minister George Papaconstantinou said Friday.

The finance minister spoke after Greece formally asked for bailout loans from the other 15 eurozone governments and the International Monetary Fund in an effort to stem the country's debt crisis.

"The activation of the mechanism will clear insecurity from the markets," Papaconstantinou told reporters, referring to the 45 billion-euro (60.14 billion U.S. dollar) aid program that Prime Minister George Papandreou asked the EU to activate.

Papaconstantinou said Greece faces no urgent financing needs and will be able to meet obligations in May with the help of its European partners.

"With no doubt, we expect to have the necessary funds from the mechanism before then," he said.

Greece faces an 8.5 billion euro (11.36 billion U.S. dollar) bond maturation on May 19 and expects to have the first batch of financial aid by then.

According to the aid package, the eurozone states will grant Greece up to 30 billion euros (40.09 billion U.S. dollar), while the IMF will release an additional 13 to 15 billion euros (17.37 to 20.04 billion dollars) at a lower rate.

Papaconstantinou stressed that during the consultations he had earlier Friday with a group of EU-IMF experts, there was no discussion of a possible renegotiation or restructuring of Greece's debt.

Papaconstantinou was to travel to Washington later Friday to take part in the spring meeting of the IMF and the World Bank and meet with IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn, among others.

Source: Xinhua