Greek official confident bailout money coming

Greece's finance minister expressed confidence Sunday that his country will be able to secure $53.4 billion US in emergency loans from European countries and the International Monetary Fund to avoid a crippling debt default.

Speaking at a news conference at World Bank headquartersin Washington, D.C., George Papaconstantinou also had a blunt message for market speculators betting against Greece: "They will lose their shirts."

Papaconstantinou called a "red herring" market speculation that Greece may still have to default on some of its debt, forcing investors to accept less than full repayment on the Greek bonds they are holding. He said any such restructuring of Greek debt was "off the table."

Greece was forced to formally request assistance on Friday from other European nations and the IMF after months of saying it would be able to weather its debt crisis using its own resources.

The decision to request aid was announced on television by Greek Prime Minister George Papandreo, who described Greece's economy as a "sinking ship" with soaring government budget deficits that the country could no longer finance without outside help.

Greece is hoping to obtain emergency loans of about $40 billion US from the other euro zone countries and an additional $13.4 billion US from the IMF.

The Greek government has already agreed to put in place painful austerity measures to trim government spending and public pensions, but the IMF and euro zone governments could require even tougher measures in return for assistance.

German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said in a newspaper interview published Sunday that Germany hasn't yet decided whether to support Greece's loan request, indicating that it may demand further austerity measures.

Asked about those comments, Papaconstantinou said he had no doubt that at the end of the negotiations, Greece will win the loans it needs.

"We are all confident that this will be done in time and we will continue to be able to finance Greek public debt without absolutely any problem," Papaconstaninou said.

The finance minister said he expected the IMF board would approve its portion of the loan support within the first 10 days of May, in time to meet a large payment of $11.3 billion on Greek bonds coming due on May 19.

Papaconstaninou said he expected the support from the euro zone governments to be provided at the same time, but added that if some European parliaments were delayed in approving their contributions, the IMF support could be used to obtain bridge financing from other sources.

IMF managing director Dominique Strauss-Kahn also expressed optimism that the loans would be approved, saying the IMF and European governments recognized the "need for speed" because of thedamage Greece's escalating problems were inflicting on financial markets around the world.

"We are all aware of the seriousness of the situation and the courageous efforts being made by the Greek people," Strauss-Kahn said in a statement.