MADRID - Moody's could follow the lead of two other international ratings agencies and downgrade Greece's debt rating, the country's finance minister said in an interview published Sunday.

"It is possible that we will have a cut by Moody's. I don't rule it out," Greek Finance Minister Georgios Papakonstantinou told daily Spanish newspaper El Pais.

Standard and Poor's on Wednesday lowered its rating of Greek government debt one step to BBB+ from A-, and said it may downgrade it further, on concern the nation will struggle to tackle its budget deficit, the largest in the EU.

Fitch Ratings cut the nation's debt to the same level on December 8 and Moody's is expected to issue a judgement by Christmas after warning Greece in October that its grade could be cut.

Financial markets around the world sold off following Fitch's move and the euro weakened sharply as investors worried about the possible repercussions it could have for the eurozone if Greece defaulted on its debt.

Papakonstantinou said Greece would not default on its debt and would not seek a bailout from other members of the eurozone.

"Greece will get out of this situation by its own means and through its own decisions. The worst signal we could send at this moment is that we are seeking some sort of help. That is not the case," he said.

Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou, who took office when his socialist party won national elections in October, has ordered major austerity measures to cut Greece's 300-billion-euro (436-billion-dollar) debt which he blames on mismanagement on the part of previous governments.

The Greek government expects its budget deficit to reach 12.7 percent of gross domestic product this year, well above the limit of 3.0 percent imposed by the eurozone.

Papandreou on Friday criticised the power of the agencies and said his Spanish counterpart Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero would take up the issue when Madrid holds the rotating presidency of the EU during the first half of 2010.

"The Spanish prime minister, for example, says agencies which answer to no one should not be able to make economies rise and fall (...) this is not possible in a democratic country with a government elected on a clear programme," he was quoted as saying.

Ratings agencies are used in financial markets to measure the risks of a default by a borrower.

A downgrade in a credit rating makes raising money in debt markets more expensive for Greece as investors demand a higher rate of interest to compensate them for the perceived higher level of risk.

Asked if he thought ratings agencies are harder on smaller economies like Greece than on Britain and the United States, Papakonstantinou said: "Look, I don't want to play the part of criticising the ratings agencies."

"I don't necessarily share some of their arguments but I have to live with it. The agencies are there and investors follow their opinions up to a point. Fairness is not a useful word when you discuss these topics," he added.