Greek Finance Minister George Papaconstantinou said Friday he “absolutely” rules out the prospect his country΄s sovereign debt might be restructured, economic portal Capital.gr reported.
“I am not the only one” who rejects the idea, Papaconstantinou said on the sidelines of a conference in the northern Italian town. The minister spoke in front of reporters in an interview with Bloomberg Television.
Papaconstantinou said there had been “some lag” in tax revenues in the first two months of 2011 but that his government was still “ahead of target” on its budget deficit reduction goals. Any fiscal shortfall would require further cuts to government spending, he added.
He said he still expects the Greek economy to contract by 3% this year, but said there was “some upside risk” to that projection thanks to rapid growth in exports.
Greece will present final budget deficit data for 2010 at the end of the month, Papaconstantinou said.
“We know that the recession was actually deeper than we thought” last year, he added.
