Greece denies report it is seeking to leave euro

ATHENS, Greece has categorically denied an online report by a German magazine that says it is considering abandoning the euro -- a report that sent the currency tumbling late Friday.
"The report on an imminent Greek exit from the eurozone, as well as being untrue, has been written with incomprehensible levity despite the fact that this has been repeatedly denied by the Greek government, and the governments of other EU member states," the Finance Ministry said in an announcement.
The report added that the eurozone's finance ministers were holding a secret crisis meeting in Luxembourg Friday night to discuss the issue.
"Such reports are a provocation, undermine efforts by Greece and the euro and serve speculative games," the ministry said.
The euro was down late Friday to $1.4470 from $1.4530 late Thursday. It had traded at $1.4942 on Wednesday, its highest level since December 2009.
Amadeu Altafaj Tardio, spokesman for the EU's monetary affairs commissioner, Olli Rehn, said he didn't know anything about the emergency finance ministers meeting in Luxembourg, reportedly called by the European Commission, the EU's executive.
A spokesman for the Luxembourg Prime Minister went one further and denied any such meeting was to take place -- "there is no meeting in Luxembourg," said Guy Schuller, who also chairs the meetings of eurozone finance ministers.
However, a spokesman for German Chancellor Angela Merkel said a prearranged meeting was taking place, but didn't specify where and stressed it had nothing to do with Greece leaving the euro.
"Greece exiting the Eurozone is not on the agenda of that meeting, and it has never been," Steffen Seibert said.
Greece was rescued from the brink of bankruptcy in May last year by a euro110 billion ($159.51 billion) package of bailout loans from the other eurozone countries and the International Monetary Fund. In return, it has imposed a strict austerity policy. Since then, Ireland and more recently Portugal have also received similar bailouts.
Speculation has swirled in recent days and weeks that Greece will have to eventually restructure its debt, with many analysts and politicians in EU countries saying the country will not be able to service its debt, which stands at more than euro340 billion. Both the government and EU officials have repeatedly denied that a restructure is on the cards.
The government in Athens has long criticized both sections of the media and rating agencies which have repeatedly downgraded the country's credit rating. The government says the downgrades are feeding financial market speculation and exacerbating the crisis without taking into account the fiscal progress it has made.