Athens pleased with latest 5-year bond issue

Greek Finance Minister Christos Staikouras on Wednesday appeared beaming over what he called yet another successful completion of a five-year bond issue, which was floated the same day.

In a statement, the FinMin the Greek state drained three billion euros from the markets at an almost zero interest rate, posting a new record low in borrowing costs for Greece, regardless of maturity.

The issue was oversubscribed by more than eight times, with bids exceeding 20 billion euros.

Staikouras reminded that since July 2019, when his pro-market and pro-reform New Democracy party won a snap election, Greece has raised 25 billion euros from capital markets at very favorable terms. He said this successful borrowing guarantees that the country’s cash reserves remain at a secure level.

“Today’s vote of confidence by the international investment community come on the heels of a series of recent positive economic developments, such as the country’s credit rating upgrade, a boost of industrial production, a higher manufacturing production index and an improvement of the economic sentiment index,” Staikouras said.