We've Begun Debt-Swap Talks With IMF - Greece's Fin Min Varoufakis

FXStreet (Mumbai) - In an interview with Italian daily La Repubblica, Greece’s Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis said that Greece has begun official negotiations with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) over a plan to swap its sovereign debt for growth-linked bonds.

Key Quotes:

"We are proposing to substitute the other tranches, to the IMF and other countries, with new bonds at market interest, which is very low at the moment, with a clause: we will start the entire repayment once solid growth starts in Greece,"

The debt would be divided up, with the ECB being paid back "entirely and by the deadline", he stressed.

"I don't see why they should not accept an extension like they always do in these situations, at least until the end of the year."