By Heather Scott

WASHINGTON (MNI) - The International Monetary Fund continues to provide technical assistance to Greece, but the country has not asked for financial support and Europe is expected to resolve the issue internally, an IMF spokeswoman said Thursday.

An IMF team is currently in Greece as part of the technical assistance it is providing on the banking sector, but "We've often said that we expect eurozone countries to want to and plan to resolve this question by themselves," spokeswoman Caroline Atkinson told reporters.

But she repeated that the IMF is ready to provide financial assistance if asked, and that aid could be deployed rapidly if needed.

Asked about Portugal's recently announced fiscal package, Atkinson said it seems "a strong plan" at first glance.

While the IMF staff has not yet had opportunity to discuss plan in detail she said it "certainly seems broadly appropriate both in terms of the macroeconomic scenario, which is a realistic one that underlies the plan, the goals and the measures that are included in it."

But, she added, "Of course the success will depend on those measures being fully implemented."

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