Berlin sees no automatic need for Greek debt restructure

(BERLIN) - Germany said Friday that figures released by the International Monetary Fund on Greece's critical financing needs "by no means" automatically necessitate restructuring of its huge debt.

Finance Ministry spokesman Martin Jaeger said despite IMF data published a day earlier that painted a grim overall fiscal picture, "by no means can one deduce that a debt restructure is imperatively required."

Days before Greeks vote in a referendum on whether to accept its bailout terms, the IMF said the country needed 50 billion euros ($55 billion) over the next three years, including 36 billion euros more from European Union lenders.

The report on Greece's finances highlighted a deterioration since Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and his anti-austerity Syriza party took power at the beginning of 2015.

Berlin, which would have to approve any further aid to Athens in the Bundestag lower house of parliament, still believes that Greece needs to resolve its problems through economic structural reforms, Jaeger told reporters.