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Klaus Regling, head of the European Stability
Mechanism (ESM), also said the euro zone should keep the funds
it is allocating for crisis resolution for future use rather
than invest them in the economy now.
Regling said the European Central Bank's asset quality review (AQR)
of 130 leading banks would show how much money Greece has left
in its existing bank bailout fund and how much more it would
need from emergency sources.
"This is not completely clear at the moment because Greece is
waiting for the results of the AQR and stress tests," he said.
Greece's bank bailout fund HFSF has 11.4 billion euros in
leftover money which Athens wants to use as a reserve to cover
its funding needs after the end of the year, when it hopes to
exit its EU/IMF bailout program.
"There is some uncertainty. There will be continued talks in the
next Eurogroup in November, December to decide what to do,"
Regling said.
Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras told Reuters on Friday one
option Greece was a credit line that Athens could tap
post-bailout should it fall prey to future market turmoil.
Regling also told reporters some countries wanted to use ESM
funds to support growth but it was necessary to have a buffer.
"As a crisis institution it is important to have a lot of unused
firepower," he told reporters.
"We all know that as we move out of this crisis there will be
another crisis one day," he said during a visit to Slovakia.
The ESM was set up to safeguard and provide instant access to
financial assistance programs for euro zone members in financial
difficulty. It has a maximum lending capacity of 500 billion
euros.
Berlin has said it was against plans to add tasks to the ESM. A
change in the fund's mandate would need consent from all 18 euro
zone member states.
(Reporting by Angelika Gruber, writing by Jan Lopatka; Editing
by Hugh Lawson)
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