Greek, Greek Debt | featured news

China offered on Saturday to buy Greek government bonds when Athens resumes issuing, in a show of support for the country whose debt burden pushed the euro zone into crisis and required an international bailout.

Moody's Investors Service downgraded Greek debt by four notches to junk status. It follows Standard & Poor's, which put the debt-laden country in the speculative-grade camp almost seven weeks ago.

European leaders were close to agreement on measures aimed at persuading jittery investors that Greece will not be allowed to default.

Goldman Sachs helped the Greek government to mask the true extent of its deficit with the help of a derivatives deal that legally circumvented the EU Maastricht deficit rules. At some point the so-called cross currency swaps will mature, and swell the country's already bloated deficit.