Third bailout for Greece 'may be necessary': Greek PM

(ROME) - Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papademos raised the possibility of a third bailout for his country but said he would do everything to avoid it, in an interview with Italian daily Il Sole 24 Ore on Friday.

"It cannot be excluded that some financial support may be necessary, but we must try hard to avoid such an outcome," said Papademos, a former ECB vice president who came to power last year as head of a caretaker coalition cabinet.

"Greece will do everything possible to make a third adjustment programme unnecessary... Having said that, markets may not be accessible by Greece even if it has implemented fully all measures agreed upon," he said.

"It is difficult to forecast market conditions and expectations in 2015," he added.

A 130-billion-euro ($173-billion) bailout for Greece was approved by the eurozone this month and will be disbursed by 2015. The International Monetary Fund also decided on a new 28-billion-euro loan for the country.

Greece received its first EU-IMF bailout of 110 billion euros in 2010.

Papademos also lashed out against international criticism of Greece.

"I am surprised that some commentators and analysts seem to ignore certain facts when they assess the situation in Greece," he said.

"Continuous scepticism about the capacity of the country to deliver and excessive emphasis on downside risks after the country has already done quite a lot towards stabilising and reforming its economy is not helpful," he said.

"Two main policy objectives are to reduce the large fiscal imbalances thus ensuring debt sustainability and to improve the competitiveness of the economy. On both accounts, Greece has made substantial progress," he said.

"Significant achievements and likely positive future outcomes are greatly underassessed," he said, adding however: "It is true that implementation of reforms has not always been as timely and as effective as we would have liked."

He said: "The majority of the Greek people want the country to change. This will provide a good basis for policy continuity and the implementation of the second economic programme."