Greece is not seeking aid to pull its debt-ridden economy out of its worst fiscal crisis in decades, the finance minister said Thursday.
The European Union has been pressing its indebted member state to implement a strict austerity plan and plug its debilitating budget deficit, which stands at more than four times the EU limit of 3 percent of GDP. Greece's debt stood at 113 percent of annual output for 2009, and is expected to reach 120.4 percent of gross domestic product this year.
There have been fears that the country would be unable to deal with the crisis and would seek help from abroad or a bailout — which would be a first for the decade-old eurozone, of which Greece is a member. But Finance Minister George Papaconstantinou stressed that the country was capable of dealing with the crisis.
"We're not expecting anyone to come to our aid," he said during a conference in Athens. "Greece has neither asked for, nor is it expecting, anything of the sort."
For more: Greece Not Seeking Aid to Plug Debt Hole - ABC News
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