The European Central Bank has no plans to bail out Greece and expects the euro zone member to sort out its finances on its own, an ECB governing council member said in an interview published today.
'The ECB has no mandate or intention to take into account the situation of a specific country, especially not with regard to public finances,' Ewald Nowotny told The Wall Street Journal.
'Our baseline scenario is that the Greek government will be able to fulfill its promises,' Nowotny, who is head of the Austrian central bank, said in the interview.
Greece's sovereign credit rating has been downgraded this month owing to its growing public deficit and debt. Greece's debt is now estimated at €300 billion, three times the size of Germany's, which is the biggest euro zone economy.
Athen's public deficit is likely to rise to 12.7% of output this year, far exceeding the limit of 3% for countries that use the single European currency. The government that was elected in October has unveiled austerity measures which aim to reduce the deficit to 9.1% next year.
Greek Finance Minister George Papaconstantinou told lawmakers during a debate on the 2010 budget on Sunday that the government would fix the country's 'chaotic' public finances and restore its international credibility.
