Greece to issue more bonds
Greece will issue more bonds after last week's successful five-year debt sale that ended a four-year drought, the head of the debt agency says.
"The bond sale was just the first step," Stelios Papadopoulos, head of the public debt management agency (PDMA) told Kathimerini daily on Sunday.
Greece on Thursday raised 3.0 billion euros ($A4.48 billion) at under 5.0 per cent interest, a move welcomed by its EU-IMF creditors.
A day later, visiting German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Greece's return to the international bond markets showed "renewed confidence" in the crisis-hit country.
The PDMA chief on Sunday said Greece wanted to "pique the interest of foreign investors, so they can focus on the real reform carried out in the country".
The aim was also "to permit comparison with the five-year bonds of other states, as this is the most common midterm maturity period for public debt," he said.
Athens also believes the successful sale will lower the cost of treasury bills, which have been Greece's staple choice of debt issue for the past four years.
"It was done to lower the average borrowing cost of the Greek state by squeezing the excessive cost of treasury bills," Papadopoulos said.
Greece has lately sold three-month and six-month treasury bills at between 3.0 and 4.0-per cent interest.
The newspaper said Greece could next issue three-year, seven-year or 10-year bonds, depending on market demand.
