An encouraging sign for the Greek economy as for the first time in several years, Greece has returned to the international bond market seeking to swap government debt due in 2019 for a bond that will mature in 2022.

The yield on five-year debt issued by the Greek government is now less than 4 per cent.

How much appetite will the bond markets have for Greek debt? Much depends on whether there are sufficient signs of a more robust and broadly-based upturn after nearly a decade of economic depression, mass unemployment, collapsing real incomes and deflation.

Earlier this month, the IMF agreed to loan $1.8 billion to Greece in return for further economic reforms.

A cautionary note from the Guardian business desk

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