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ATHENS: Greece faced rising protests against fresh austerity measures on Thursday and said it could appeal for help to the IMF as it issued a 10-year bond vital to its debt repayment efforts.
"(An appeal to the International Monetary Fund) could cost in psychological and sentimental terms and we hope not to reach this point," government spokesman George Petalotis told state radio Net.
"But it is a possibility that nobody can exclude," he said, as Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou prepared to visit Berlin on Friday and Paris on Sunday for critical talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy.
In Frankfurt, European Central Bank head Jean-Claude Trichet said IMF financial aid to Greece would not be "appropriate."
Papendreou will be seeking concrete measures of support from both after announcing on Wednesday another set of austerity measures worth 4.8 billion euros that the European Union had demanded Athens take to put its finances in order.
But Germany said on Thursday it was still up to Greece alone to solve its problems.
"We must stick to the principle. The rules are that each country must solve its problems. That's the status," German Economy Minister Rainer Bruederle said.
Demand for the new Greek bond was heavy and the interest rate demanded by lenders slightly lower than first indicated but still high, market sources said.
Total offers were about 15 billion euros but Greece was holding to raising the initial amount of 5.0 billion euros (6.85 billion dollars), sources in Paris said.
The yield or rate at which the bonds were being sold appeared more favourable for Greece than had been expected, being 300 basis points, or three percentage points, above the reference rate for bond issues in the eurozone, instead of 310 basis points as the managing banks had expected.
Market sources said Greece was having to offer a rate of about 6.47 percent, or a premium of about 0.40 percentage points above the rate on previous debt, in order to attract lenders.
The yield on existing 10-year bonds rose to 6.051 percent at about mid-day from 5.969 percent late on Wednesday. Bond yields and prices move in opposite directions.
The Athens stock exchange was higher on Thursday, adding 1.61 percent in late afternoon trade.
The Socialist government had hoped to calm jittery markets and ease its steep borrowing rates with the austerity package but it faced an angry response from unions who called for a barrage of strikes and three-hour work stoppages on Friday.
The unions representing private employees and civil servants - who are bearing the brunt of the cuts - have timed the industrial action to coincide with a parliament vote on the belt-tightening measures.
Teachers and railway employees announced a full-day strike on Friday.
On Thursday, 300 communist union members invaded the finance ministry and unemployed staff from former state carrier Olympic Airlines occupied the state accounting office ahead of another major rally in Athens against the cutbacks.
European officials praised the latest Greek cuts on Wednesday, with the markets taking their comments positively as a sign the EU might come up with concrete support for Athens.
So far, however, there is no clear signal that financial help might be forthcoming and both the European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund insist that Greece must show it is reforming the entire economy.
IMF spokeswoman Caroline Atkinson said Greece must "develop and implement soon significant reforms to boost productivity and growth. We stand ready to support the implementation of the authorities' plans by sharing our technical expertise in these matters."
Greece has promised the EU that it will reduce its public deficit this year by four percentage points from 12.7 percent as it aims to get it back within the EU's three percent limit.
The government needs more than 20 billion euros (27 billion dollars) by May to redeem debt falling due and overall it needs to borrow more 50 billion euros this year. - AFP/de
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