Wolfgang Schaeuble was speaking at a press conference here following a telephone conference call by the Eurogroup to take stock of private investor acceptance of a Greek debt swap.
The swap, which was taken up by 83.5 percent of Greece's private creditors, was a condition for the release of a 130-billion-euro, second aid package from eurozone partners for Athens to help it avert a default.
The rest of the funding, 94.5 billion euros, is essentially loans to Athens and will probably be released next week, Schaeuble said, when "formal conditions" are met, something which is not in doubt.
"We are not out of the woods but we have taken an important big step," Schaeuble said.
European leaders are now waiting for the International Monetary Fund to say how much it will contribute to the second aid programme for Greece.
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