By John Shaw

WASHINGTON (MNI) - With members of Congress largely preoccupied this fall with the short-term debate over the fate of the Bush tax cuts, there is not much attention being devoted to tackling the nation's deepening long-term fiscal problems.

FRANKFURT (MNI) - Economic developments in Germany have been stronger than expected, with a positive impact on public finances, Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said Thursday.

"New borrowing will not be as dramatic as imagined at the end of last year," the minister told a banking conference here. "We have a good chance this year that new borrowing will drop below E60 billion."

LONDON (MNI) - Spreads are irrelevant in the current situation where a large body of traditional investors in Greek government bonds have withdrawn from the market, Petros Christodoulou, head of the Greek Public Debt Management Agency, said Thursday.

Christodoulou said that the downgrade of Greece's sovereign ratings by ratings agencies had led to a "loose, passive supply" of GGBs worth between "30, 40 ... up to 50bn" euro, he said.

BERLIN (MNI) - Germany's economic upswing is still "very fragile," Chancellor Angel Merkel said Thursday at a joint press conference here with the head of the German Federation of Trade Unions (DGB), Michael Sommer.

"We are jointly of the opinion that there exists a certain economic recovery but that this upswing is still very fragile, and everything has to be done to secure jobs and, wherever possible, create new ones," Merkel explained.

HELSINKI (MNI) - Eurozone growth is likely to lose steam in the months ahead, reflecting the trend in other large economies and the unwinding of domestic stimulus measures and waning support from restocking, ECB Governing Council member Erkki Liikanen said Thursday.

"The world economy continues to recover," the Finnish central bank head told parliament here.

LONDON (MNI) - A Greek debt restructuring is "unlikely" and not under consideration, Petros Christodoulou, head of the Greek Public Debt Management Agency, said Thursday.

Speaking on Bloomberg TV, Christodoulou said: "I don't think restructuring is likely and no-one is even contemplating it at this point or even thinking about that."

He acknowledged there was some tension in the markets, although he was unclear exactly what they were currently discounting

"We are monitoring the market, but it is too early to tell what they are saying," he said.

LONDON - The UK needs to stabilise its public finances, boost private sector jobs growth and rebalance its economy away from a dependence on financial services, Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg said today.

"You can't create jobs or fairness if you're constantly having to deal with the problem of the public finances, of the possibility of interest rates going up, with us constantly under pressure. Let's get some stability in the economy because that's what we need to create jobs," Clegg said.

HELSINKI (MNI) - Eurozone growth is likely to lose steam in the months ahead, reflecting the trend in other large economies and the unwinding of domestic stimulus measures and waning support from restocking, ECB Governing Council member Erkki Liikanen said Thursday.

"The world economy continues to recover," the Finnish central bank head told parliament here.

"However, the pace of the recovery has varied. China's economic growth, which slowed down only slightly during the crisis, speeded up among the leading economies supported by massive stimulus efforts."