BERLIN (Reuters) - Greece must not be granted a "bail in" that would involve creditors taking a loss on their loans, Germany's deputy finance minister said in an interview broadcast on Sunday, reiterating the German government's opposition to debt relief for Athens. "There must not be a bail-in," Jens Spahn told German broadcaster Deutschlandfunk, according to a written transcript of the interview. The IMF has called for Greece to be granted substantial debt relief, but this is opposed by Germany, which makes the largest contribution to the budget of the European Stability Mechanism (ESM), the euro zone's bailout fund. Inspectors from the European Commission, the ESM, the IMF and the European Central Bank are due to return to Athens this week. A survey published on Friday showed around half of people in Germany, Europe's paymaster, are against granting debt relief to Greece.

Source: The Star February 26, 2017 10:07 UTC