GREEK Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis called for “intelligent” debt restructuring yesterday.

However, he acknowledged that the write-down of debt that the Syriza government had been elected to fight for would be unacceptable to the country’s creditors.

“A haircut is a dirty word. I’ve learned that,” said Mr Varoufakis.

“Just as we don’t want to hear the word troika, our creditors don’t want to hear the word haircut. I understand that.

“But there are more intelligent solutions — swaps, for example,” he added.

Under that mechanism, Greece could transform part of the loans it has received from the European bailout fund into bonds.

The interest and repayment rates Athens pays on these bonds could then be pegged to Greece’s rate of economic growth, Mr Varoufakis argued.

“I don’t want Greece to pile up more debt.

“The new deal we want to agree by June must be a growth pact, based on private-sector investment.”