Greek Bond Deal Must Be Completed By September-Official
ATHENS -(Dow Jones)- Talks with private creditors on a deal to swap existing Greek bonds with longer term securities must be completed by September, an official taking part in the discussions said Thursday.
A deal must be in place before Greece receives the next tranche of an existing EUR110 billion bailout provided by its euro-zone partners and the International Monetary Fund last year, he said.
Greece's eligibility to receive that next disbursement will be judged and approved in September.
"[The bond deal] has to be in ready in time so that we remain within time frame for the next tranche," the official said.
He added that Greece is aiming for 90% participation by private sector creditors and said the government is "optimistic" that it would manage to hammer out an agreement.
Earlier Thursday, Greece began talks with international bankers over a proposed bond swap program to exchange some EUR135 billion in Greek government bonds maturing between now and 2020 into new 15-year and 30-year debt.
The plan aims to slice EUR13.5 billion off of Greece's total stock of EUR350 billion in public debt, while also lengthening the average maturity of Greek debt owed to private creditors to 11 years from six years currently.
So far, more than two dozen banks and financial institutions holding about 40% of Greek debt have signed on to the deal.