Greece has changed dramatically over the past year, since the most ambitious monetary and structural reforms in the history of the eurozone has been put into effect by the Greek government, stressed Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou on Monday, during a visit to the New York Stock Exchange.

"We are responding to our commitments in time and within the time limits that had been set and often much earlier than expected exceeding expectations," the prime minister said, adding that his government is? now focusing on strengthening growth and taking measures that will make the economy more competitive.

Already, Greece's budget deficit fell 32.3 pct in the January-August period, exceeding the government’s target of a 26.5 pct decline for the same period, the finance ministry said on Monday.

In an announcement, the finance ministry said the fiscal deficit shrank to 14.485 billion euros in the eight-month period, down from 21.382 billion euros in the corresponding period last year. The budget target for the year envisages a 39.5-pct decline of the deficit.

Mr Papandreou stressed that the radical restructuring of the pensioning and taxation system, and the restructuring of the public sector have already been promoted and will result in greater transparency and effectiveness.

He further said that the government is proceeding with the deregulation of the markets of products, services and labour, including the liberalisation of the energy market and of closed professions. These structural reforms will lead to an increase in production by 5 percent to 6 percent, he noted.

Mr Papandreou?also mentioned that public sector assets with value exceeding 270 billion euros will be privatised or utilized, and he assured that Greece is providing a great prospect for investments in renewable energy sources as well as the infrastructure sector.

The prime minister said that his country will not go bankrupt. The Greek government proved that it means what it says. He also expressed his belief that Greece will regain the confidence of investors and rumors about Greek bankrupcy will soon recede as reforms start to produce results.?