Greek Finance Minister Christos Staikouras welcomed the success of Greece's five-year bond, which raised 2.5 billion euros in markets despite the volatile global economic environment, on Wednesday.
The minister said the returns covered most of the country's borrowing needs for the year 2023, ensuring high cash reserves for the period following national elections as well. Greece's cash reserves again exceeded the sum of 38 billion euros, Staikouras added.
Despite the strong international volatility, "the interest rate spread with the corresponding German rate stands at approximately 1/4 of the value registered at the beginning of 2019," he said, owing to "the high resilience, strong dynamics and favorable prospects of the Greek economy, as they were formed in the last four years, with the exercise of a responsible and prudent economic policy implemented by the current government."
The bond has generated very strong demand for the issue during the book-building process, with offers approaching 16 billion euros.
With the syndicated issue, the Public Debt Management Agency has covered the greater part of this year's loan programme, which is expected to reach 7.0 billion euros in total. With Wednesday's issue, the Greek state has borrowed 6.0 billion euros so far in 2023.
The interest rate is at 90 basis points at mid-swap, or roughly 3.92%, while the initial PDMA guidance was five basis points higher.