Greece's major lenders - EU paymaster Germany and the International Monetary Fund - both endorsed the result, signalling that Athens was on its way to receiving over €34 billion in aid this month to recapitalise its struggling banks.
"Overall the buyback can be called a success", said the letter of Germany's finance ministry, adding that "the other conditions for the payment of further financial help for Greece have been met".
The programme accounts for about half of a broader debt relief package that lenders agreed for Athens last month, and its success had been seen as essential to keeping the IMF committed to a rescue plan mounted jointly with the EU. The scheme was originally expected to cut Greek debt by 11 percentage points of gross domestic product, but the German letter showed it would only cut debt by 9.5 points. That in turn meant Greek debt would fall to only 128 per cent of GDP in 2020, four points higher than the 124 per cent the eurozone and the IMF accepted as a manageable level.
In the letter, Berlin said debt could still fall to the required 124 per cent level by reducing the interest Greece pays on its rescue loans or via a new buyback for bondholders who refused to take part in a debt restructuring earlier this year.
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