The Standard & Poor's ratings agency lifted
Greece's credit grade out of default on Wednesday after the country completed a massive debt writedown with private creditors.
It upgraded the country from selective default to 'CCC', still in junk status, and gave it a stable outlook, which means no further ratings changes are being considered.
Athens finalized its bond swap, the largest in history, on April 25. The deal wiped $132 billion off Greece's debt and saw private bondholders take a cut of about 75 per cent on the real value of their investment.
An integral part of the conditions for the crisis-hit country to continue receiving international rescue loans, the bond swap aims to trim Greece's debt from about 165 per cent of gross domestic product last year to about 120 percent by 2020.
Greece has been relying on billions of euros in international rescue loans since 2010, after years of overspending and mismanagement of the country's finances left it locked out of the international bond market and facing a potentially catastrophic bankruptcy.
In return for two bailouts, Greece has imposed harsh austerity measures that have included repeated rounds of tax hikes, as well as cuts to pensions and salaries. The measures hammered the economy, which is in the fifth year of a recession.
A man holds a placard that reads ''Give us back our money, private bank holder'' outside the Bank of Greece headquarters in Athens, on Friday, April 20, 2012. 
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