Greece and its private lenders will begin talks on a bond swap to cut 50 percent of the country’s debt today in Frankfurt, Greek newspaper Kathimerini said yesterday, without citing sources.
The talks are part of an EU bailout plan for the debt-laden country agreed last month. Under the plan, about 200 billion euros (US$270.8 billion) of Greek debt owned by private bondholders would be cut by 100 billion euros.
Greece will propose that for every 100 euros Greece owes, bondholders should receive between 10 and 20 euros in cash, depending on the maturities of the existing bonds they hold, Kathimerini said.
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Bondholders would also receive between 30 and 40 euros in new bonds with a duration of between 20 and 30 years at an average coupon of 6 percent, the newspaper added.
Banks, represented by the International Institute of Finance, are likely to propose that the face value of 141 billion euros of bonds be cut by 50 percent, Kathimerini said.
The rest would be exchanged with European Financial Stability Facility-guaranteed bonds expiring in 22 years at a fixed coupon of 7 percent, or alternatively a floating coupon between 5.5 percent and 7.5 percent, it added.
New Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papademos said on Monday that the country would publish very soon an official announcement to begin talks on the bond swap. His government is expected to receive a parliamentary vote of confidence later today.
However, conservatives vowed on Monday to reject any new austerity measures in return for the aid that is keeping Athens from bankruptcy, signalling the new coalition may not enjoy the kind of cross-party support its lenders demand.
Papademos said Greece had no choice but to remain inside the euro zone, telling lawmakers reforms were the only way to mitigate painful austerity measures which had deepened the recession.
Eurozone leaders are demanding the New Democracy and its two conservative coalition partners — the Socialists and the right-wing LAOS party — sign pledges that they will do what is necessary to make a new rescue loan package work. If they do not, Greece’s international lenders have warned they will withhold the 8 billion euro aid tranche Athens needs to avoid running out of cash next month.
New Democracy leader Antonis Samaras said he would not sign any pledge for new belt-tightening. He has said his party would support all the measures Greece has passed so far to meet the terms of its aid deal, but his support for the three-day old government has been lukewarm. The LAOS party has also objected to any new wage or pension cuts.
Crucially, Samaras said he would not sign a pledge of support for conditions on the new bailout agreement demanded by EU Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn. Those terms have not yet been specified but may require new measures.
“I don’t sign such statements,” Samaras said, adding that his word should be sufficient.
Inspectors from the EU, IMF and the European Central Bank, known as the “troika,” were due to meet the new administration after today’s confidence ballot, but uncertainty surfaced over whether they would actually come.
Tens of thousands of people angry at more than a year of austerity measures are expected to rally on Thursday, the anniversary of a 1973 student uprising that helped bring down a military junta that ruled from 1967 to 1974.
The march could be the biggest in months of protests and would complicate discussions with the troika by shutting down Athens, particularly as previous rallies have turned violent.
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