Greece to announce debt swap result on Friday

ATHENS: Greece will announce on Friday the results of an unprecedented bond swap with private creditors to alleviate nearly a third of its enormous sovereign debt, a finance ministry source said on Thursday.

"An announcement will be made at 0600 GMT on Friday on the official government site for the exchange," the finance ministry source told AFP.

But a late-night statement by Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos "could not be excluded," the official added.

The exchange of Greek-law bonds, which ends at 2000 GMT on Thursday, aims to erase more than 100 billion euros ($130 billion) of the country's debt, which totals around 350 billion euros.

Those who hold debt issued under foreign law have until April 11 to decide.

Greece would like to see 90 percent of private creditors take part, and has said it will not go through with the deal unless at least 75 percent do so.

Late Wednesday, more than half of the creditors concerned by the operation, a kind of controlled default of Greece's privately-held debt aimed at calming a crisis that concerns the entire eurozone, had agreed to participate.

Greek media on Thursday put the participation at over 70 percent, but the ministry official declined to confirm this.

"We do not know how the operation is proceeding, beans are being added as we speak," the finance ministry source said.

Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2012