Greek crisis to be solved through restructuring of country, not debt: PM

Fri, April15, 2011 20:06:53 |English.news.cn

ATHENS, April 15 (Xinhua) -- The Greek debt crisis will be solved through the restructuring of the country, not its debt, Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou said at a cabinet meeting Friday.

He was presenting the outline of the next package of fiscal and reform measures to face the crisis.

Papandreou rejected the assumption that Greece would eventually resort to debt restructuring if targets set last year to avoid default and overcome the crisis by 2014 with European Union-International Monetary Fund support were not be met.

Due to a shortfall in revenue collection and an expected revision of the 2010 budget deficit to over 10 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) by Eurostat, the Greek government aims to raise 23 billion euros (33.27 billion U.S. dollars) through a medium term-fiscal policy plan for the period 2012-2015 to put its economy in order.

"This is our roadmap which will lead from the Greece in crisis to the Greece of creation and will guarantee that we will not go through a similar crisis in the future," Papandreou said.

The full plan would be discussed with social partners and other political parties and would be presented in detail after Easter holidays, before being submitted to parliament for a vote, he said.

The basic lines, he said, were fiscal discipline aiming to reduce the budget deficit from 15.4 percent of GDP in 2009 to 1 percent in 2015, and measures to boost development through attracting more investment.

At the meeting, Papandreou also expressed his government's determination to implement all the necessary policies and reforms to face the crisis. sourced Xinhua