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Greece turns to growth, elections after debt deal

By Harry Papachristou

ATHENS (Reuters) - After the success of a debt cut plan which paves the way for a 130-billion euro ($170.55 billion) international bailout, attention in Athens is shifting to politics and on how to kick-start debt-laden Greece's stricken economy, officials said on Saturday.

Greece averted the immediate threat of an uncontrolled default on Thursday when it successfully concluded a bond swap deal under which private sector creditors agreed to accept deep cuts in the value of their holdings.

The deal, which cuts about 105 billion euros of the country's privately-held debt, more than half of the total, was offering Greece a second chance to slowly regain investors' and markets' trust, its central banker George Provopoulos said.

"This is a new opportunity... to gradually restore confidence in the economy's prospects," he was quoted as saying in financial newspaper Imerisia.

European Central Bank policymaker Ewald Nowotny shared the cautious optimism. "A clear success has been achieved here," Nowotny said in an interview aired by Austrian radio, adding he saw no need at the moment for any talk about a further bailout.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/03/10/us-greece-idUSBRE8270FH20120310?feedType=RSS&feedName=businessNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2FbusinessNews+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Business+News%29