Greek debt deal hopes rise as banks back swap After months of tortuous negotiations, many of the big institutional investors had said they would accept the deal but senior bankers and officials remained cautious ahead of the deadline. About the private sector deal - I don't have a crystal ball. I cannot predict this with certainty. But I repeat, for us, this is a condition," Dutch Finance Minister Jan Kees de Jager told parliament. French bank BNP Paribas' Greek debt negotiator was also uncertain. "It is impossible to be certain of the outcome of such a process," Jean Lemierre told Le Monde newspaper. But the success of the offer is in everyone's interest. Only €177bn of the debt are covered by Greek law and it was not immediately clear how much of the debt covered by Wednesday's commitment was under Greek law and how much under international law. Athens only has the power to enforce losses on holders of bonds written under Greek law, not the 10pc or so of its debt covered by English or other international law. Worries about the bond swap lifted demand for German bonds at an auction on Wednesday, as investors sought a safe haven for their money before the deadline and the settlement of the deal on Monday. Financial markets have got more jittery the closer the Greek bond deadline has got. Eurozone finance ministers are due to decide whether to release the €130bn package during a conference call on Friday. Thursday's deadline is the most important remaining hurdle to be cleared for Greece to receive the funds that it urgently needs to keep paying its bills while it seeks to push through deep structural reforms of its shattered economy. "The first wave will show whether we can complete the bailout agreement to cover the country's funding needs," Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos told Greek radio. Athens needs to have the funds by March 20, when it must meet redemption payments on €14.5bn of bonds falling due. Now in its fifth year of deep recession and facing years of bleak austerity, Greece has staggered from one deadline to another since the euro zone crisis blew up in 2010. Underlining the problems facing the economy, the head of SETA, the association representing Greece's vital tourism sector, said pre-bookings from the key markets of Germany, the Netherlands and Sweden were down by 20pc-30pc this year. Following repeated waves of strikes and sometimes violent protests in Athens and other big cities, Greeks have become increasingly disillusioned with politicians ahead of elections expected by early May at the latest. On Wednesday, prison guards kicked off a series of 24-hour rolling strikes in protest against worsening conditions in the country's already severely overcrowded prisons. Greeks also booed politicians and threw yogurt during a parade on the island of Rhodes.