Various measures have affected the Greek public debt and interest charges. Firstly, privately placed loans were given out by European governments in 2010. Since 2011, the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) grants loans to eurozone countries whose economies are in distress. In addition to Greece, the EFSF also made loans available for Portugal and Ireland. In February 2012, a restructuring process was carried out and relatively expensive government bonds were replaced by low-interest bonds. The European Central Bank bought Greek government bonds, thus forcing down the interest rate. On 10 April 2014, the Greek government has issued bonds for the first time since the bailouts started.
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