Greece has completed a massive bond exchange designed to more than halve its privately-held debt, with 96.9 percent of eligible investors participating in the swap, AP reported. The finance ministry said Wednesday that about ?199 billion ($260.4 billion) worth of bonds have been exchanged, out of the total ?205.5 billion ($268.9 billion) in eligible paper owned by banks, pension funds and other private bondholders. The swap, which was initiated last month and is the biggest debt writedown in history, saw bondholders take a cut of about 75 percent on the real value of their investment. It is aimed to bring Greece's crippling debt load down from about 165 percent of GDP last year to below 120 percent by 2020. The country has depended on international rescue loans since May 2010, after years of profligate public spending and inefficient tax collection brought it to the brink of bankruptcy. In return for two huge bailouts, Greece imposed harsh austerity measures that battered a shrinking economy and sent unemployment soaring to a record 21.8 percent. National elections will be held on May 6, and the government that emerges faces the tough task of foisting further cutbacks on an increasingly resentful population while implementing legislated reforms. But opinion polls indicate that no party will gain enough votes to govern alone, and it is unclear whether squabbling political leaders will be able to forge a power-sharing deal. The finance ministry did not say how it would handle the remaining 3.1 percent of investors who declined to participate in the swap. Greece has said that holdouts will be invited in due course to "consider arrangements that produce debt relief equivalent" to the terms of the exchange. A ministry official said the matter will be discussed at a forthcoming Cabinet meeting expected to be held later this week. The official spoke on customary condition of anonymity. -- SPA
