Greece to announce new deficit-cutting steps after EU-IMF talks: minister

ATHENS: Greece will announce new steps to slash its public deficit at the conclusion of ongoing talks with a joint mission from the European Union, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund, the finance minister said on Monday.

"This is a direction to which we subscribe and translates into specific measures and policies which will be announced as soon as the procedure is completed," Greek Finance Minister George Papaconstantinou said in a statement.

He added that Athens had a "shared" goal with the mission currently in the Greek capital to finalise the details of a support loan worth some 45 billion euros (60 billion dollars).

"Our shared approach is simple, that Greece must drastically cut its deficits in coming years, check its debt and make all structural adjustments to render the Greek economy more competitive," he said.

Greece has set itself the unprecedented task of slashing its public deficit to 8.7 percent of output this year. The European Commission last week estimated the deficit at 13.6 percent.

It is also labouring to reduce its public debt from its current level of nearly 300 billion euros, but its efforts have been severely undermined by steeply rising borrowing costs as investors fear a Greek default is looming.