Greek Finance Minister: Idea of Euro Exit 'Absurd'
By: The euro has been very good for Greece and the possibility of the country exiting the euro zone, as some analysts speculated recently, is "absurd," Greek Finance Minister George Papaconstantinou said Wednesday.
The single European currency has stabilized expectations about Greece, brought investment and helped the country close the income gap with the European Union, Papaconstantinou said.
EU officials recently criticized Greece for lack of fiscal discipline and for unreliable statistics, as the country revised its budget deficit to around 12 percent of gross domestic product from an initially reported figure of under 3 percent.
"I think that the issue of credibility is as much a problem as the size of the deficit," Papaconstantinou said.
"It is absolutely essential that we quickly address this issue, we're paying for it every day in the markets by higher spreads," he added.
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— Written by CNBC.com