Greece will need to do more on their Debt say EU Finance ministers - by Simone Meier and Peter Laca

European finance chiefs said Greece may have to step up its efforts to tackle a fiscal crisis that threatens to spread to other countries across the region.

The Greek government “is going to do all what is necessary” to reduce its budget shortfall, Spanish Finance Minister Elena Salgado told reporters today in Brussels before leading a meeting of European Union counterparts. While Greece’s deficit-cutting proposals “are a step in the right direction, we’ll have to see whether they’re enough,” Luxembourg’s Jean- Claude Juncker said late yesterday.

The Greek government’s latest proposals call for about 10 billion euros ($14.4 billion) of spending cuts and revenue increases this year to cut the deficit from 12.7 percent of GDP to 8.7 percent by year end. The plan includes 2.5 billion euros in state asset sales this year. Dutch Finance Minister Wouter Bos said in Brussels that the Greek program “leans heavily on one-time measures” and “needs to be more substantial.”

Greek officials have already pledged to provide more- reliable statistics after the EU earlier this month complained of “severe irregularities” in the country’s economic data.

For more: Greece May Need to Do More on Debt, EU Ministers Say (Update3) - Bloomberg.com