Greece might need a third international rescue package worth 50 billion euros ($66 billion) in 2015, the German weekly magazine Spiegel said yesterday.

The troika of creditors - the European Union, the European Central Bank (ECB) and the International Monetary Fund - is said to have expressed strong doubt in a preliminary report that Greece would be able to return to the international money markets to borrow in 2015.

By then Athens is likely to require 50 billion euros to repay international loans.

Spiegel claimed Germany requested that this part of the report be edited out.

Spiegel also said the ECB was expecting implementation of a so-called collective action clause to force private creditors to agree to the restructuring of the Greek debt. The clause can be invoked if at least 66 per cent of banks agree to it.-TradeArabia News Service