EU:draft Greek debt deal "practically finalized"

The draft agreement on restructuring the Greek debt, also known as private sector involvement (PSI), has been "practically" finalized, the European Union (EU) Economic Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn said late Thursday."The draft agreement on private sector involvement to decrease the Greek debt burden is practically finalized, even if it will be formally approved as part of the overall package," Rehn said at a press conference after a meeting of eurozone finance ministers."At least the European Commission is satisfied with the outcome. It will help substantially to reduce the Greek debt burden towards 120 percent of GDP by 2020," added Rehn, who expected the deal to be formally approved the next week.The PSI deal is part of the 130 billion-euro (about 172 billion U.S. dollars) bailout package, offered by the "troika," namely, the International Monetary Fund, the European Commission and the European Central Bank, to prevent Greece from plunging into default on March 20 when 14.5 billion euro of bonds come due.