Financial leaders at a weekend conference focused on the deepening Greek debt crisis and pledged to address risks posed to the global economic recovery by countries with severe budget deficits, AP reported. Greek Finance Minister George Papaconstantinou continued intense talks with IMF and European Union officials on a multibillion dollar rescue package to meet his country's massive debt obligations. Parallel negotiations are under way in Athens. Papaconstantinou is scheduled to meet Sunday with Dominique Strauss-Khan, the head of the International Monetary Fund. «The Greek citizens shouldn't fear the IMF, we are there to try to help them,» said Strauss-Kahn, a former Socialist finance minister of France. Greece is hoping to obtain loans of about $40 billion from the group of 16 Eurozone countries and an additional $13.4 billion from the IMF. Greece on Friday made a formal request for the aid and Prime Minister George Papandreou declared in a televised address that his country's economy was a «sinking ship.» U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner urged the Greek government, European officials and the IMF to «move quickly to put in place a package of strong reforms and substantial concrete financial support.» European and IMF officials, however, have made clear that their support will require Greece to put its fiscal house in order. Greece has already agreed to begin an austerity program that cuts civil servants' pay, freezes pensions and raises taxes. But the country faces years of painful cutbacks and the austerity program has already generated massive street protests and labor strikes in Greece. Canadian Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said Saturday that finance officials from some European countries expressed concerns that the size of a rescue program for Greece may not be sufficient. «There is a concern about making sure that the package is enough so that it's a one-time event,» he told reporters. Budget deficits in the United States, Britain, France and other advanced countries also remain a threat to the global economic recovery and the ministers said in their communique they were «strongly committed to ensuring sustainable public finances and addressing sovereign debt risks.» Strauss-Kahn said the IMF was helping countries use their stimulus packages in ways that generate job growth and lower labor market costs to combat lingering unemployment, still rising in many advanced countries. Unemployment was cited by ministers and central bankers as another threat to the recovery from the deepest recession since the end of World War II. -- SPA
