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Athens Macedonian News Agency: News in English, 14-07-10
CONTENTS
[01] PM Samaras to address Economist conference
[02] Greece raises 1.5 bln euros from three-year bond sale
[01] PM Samaras to address Economist conference
ANA/MPA---Prime Minister Antonis Samaras on Thursday, at 20.30, will
address the Economist conference "The big rethink for Europe, the big
turning point for Greece," which is held in a hotel at Athens' coastal
suburb of Kavouri.
Samaras chaired a meeting at Maximos Mansion on Wednesday evening on
how to deal with households and enterprises' liquidity problems.
Government Vice-President Evangelos Venizelos, Finance Minister Gikas
Hardouvelis, Alternate Finance Minister Christos Staikouras, Development
Minister Nikos Dendias and representatives of the the four systemic
banks participated in the meeting.
[02] Greece raises 1.5 bln euros from three-year bond sale
ANA-MPA -- Greece on Thursday successfully sold a three-year benchmark
bond issue, raising 1.5 billion euros from the markets –down from
3.0 billion euros recorded during the book building process - with the
interest rate of the issue set at 3.5 pct.
Finance ministry officials said the money was raised despite a very
negative climate prevailing in international markets, particularly in
Eurozone regional countries, due to worries over the financial health
of Banco Espirito Santo. "Our aim was not the sum to be collected but to
show that we can make it (despite adverse conditions) and at the proper
interest rate," a finance ministry official told ANA-MPA, adding that
the characteristic of the positive development of the auction (despite
a sense of insecurity among investors which was not local) was the fact
that the spread with Portuguese bonds shrank to 200 basis points from
240 bps in the previous auction in April. He noted that the yield would
remain around today's level.
A finance ministry announcement said that the government expressed its
satisfaction that international investors, once again, demonstrated
their confidence in the Greek economy, allowing the country to continue
its effort to build a full yield curve.
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