German finance minister says Greece will not default

German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said on Sunday that Greece would not default, but warned that if Athens did exit the eurozone it would be damaging not only for the zone as a whole but also Greece.

"I think, it will not happen that there will be a state bankrupt in Greece", Schaeuble said at a meeting with business-people in Singapore.

Greece is locked in talks with the European Union, European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund on a new set of spending cuts and reforms in exchange for the next tranche of loans saving the debt-crippled country from bankruptcy.

Greece expects to agree a new austerity package with its lenders and for the EU and IMF to bridge their differences on how to cut the country's debt by the time EU leaders meet on October 18-19, says Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras.

(Reporting by Gernot Heller; Editing by Michael Perry)