ATHENS: Greece, buoyed by a broad-based eurozone debt crisis accord, will continue efforts to become a productive country, Prime Minister George Papandreou said in a televised address Thursday.
"After the battle we have won, which is of huge importance for the country ... we will continue to work intensively so that Greece becomes productive," Papandreou said in a brief address on the accord reached overnight at a eurozone summit in Brussels.
Earlier, Greek Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos said his country's massive debt, which threatened to sink the country and the eurozone, was manageable now after a deal with creditor banks to cut it by 50 percent,
The "debt becomes viable under international guidelines" with the accord, Venizelos said, noting that without the 'haircut,' Greece would have seen its borrowing equal to 173 percent of annual economic output by 2020, an unsustainable level.
Greek debt at 350 billion euros is equal to about 160 percent of Gross Domestic Product but the 50-percent reduction agreed in Brussels only covers those government bonds held by private sector creditors such as banks.
The result is the total debt mountain will be cut to about 120 percent of GDP, much more manageable but still well above the 60 percent EU limit.
To protect the banks from the fallout of the debt reduction, the EU also agreed to make available some 100 billion euros to help recapitalise them.
Venizelos said the accord makes a very significant difference to Greek public finances.
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