The nation’s Finance Minister stated yesterday that Greece plans to sell bonds to Greeks abroad as it eyes a return to international bond markets next year.
Greece is keen to return to markets after plunging into a debt crisis last year. The country’s budget deficit hit 13.6% of GDP which drove borrowing costs to prohibitive levels. The budget deficit prompted a 110 billion euro or $140 billion USD bailout from the International Monetary Fund and European Union.
“We are talking at the moment and designing what is called a ‘Diaspora bond’ to tap Greek money that is abroad and we feel that we will be quite successful,” Finance Minister George Papaconstantinou told Reuters Insider TV.
“I think markets are clearly pricing us in a way that is not really in tune with where we are. It’s interesting to see that yesterday’s T-bill auction went well,” said Papaconstantinou in London on a European roadshow to meet investors and persuade them of Greece’s commitment to meet debt reduction targets.
“If we did not have the T-bill auctions … we would have to be borrowing from our creditors (IMF/EU) at 5.0%. Anything below that for us is useful,” Papaconstantinou added.
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