Debt crisis: Greece raises €4bn at debt auction to help government avoid cash crunch [Telegraph]
August 15, 2012 Leave a comment
The extraordinarily large sale was held ahead of the redemption of a €3.2bn bond held by the ECB which expires on August 20. it will also help the country pay salaries and pensions while it awaits the next instalment of its EU-IMF bailout package.
“Total bids reached €4.248bn euros and the amount finally accepted was €4.063bn,” the government debt agency said in a statement.
In its last equivalent sale on July 17, Greece raised €1.625bn euros at a slightly lower rate of 4.28pc.
Greece has been shut out of the long-term debt markets since 2010 and has regularly issued short-term debt, but previous placements had not been as high as Tuesday’s.
In need of cash to pay salaries and pensions, the government hopes that a solution can be found at the European level regarding the redemption of the ECB bond, a finance ministry source told AFP.
