Greek deputy PM Venizelos dismisses media report over 'alteration' of Greek budget gap size

Greek Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Evangelos Venizelos strongly dismissed on Friday a report in German media that he asked European Central Bank (ECB) board member Joerg Asmussen in a recent meeting for an "alteration" of the size of Greece's budget gap. "The article in the newspaper Die Zeit that - in the context of a long profile on Mr. Asmussen - refers to the supposed content of our conversation during our recent meeting in Athens, on Aug. 22 2013 is totally inaccurate," Venizelos said, according to an official statement released by his office. According to the report, Venizelos suggested the false reduction of figures of the anticipated Greek budget gap in the period 2015-2016 to facilitate Greece's attempt to secure further aid from international lenders to resolve its economic problems after the end of the current bailout program next year. According to recent EU estimates, the size of the gap is expected to reach approximately 2 percent of GDP which is roughly 4 billion euros (5.4 billion U.S. dollars), but Greek officials have openly expressed doubts on its extent recently.