The treasury bill sale, originally for 900
million euros, was oversubscribed 4.54 times -- compared to 3.64 times for the last
26-week T-bill issue in July -- and had a yield of 4.82 percent, the Public Debt
Management Agency said. It accepted additional noncompetitive offers of 270 million
euros. The settlement date is set for Friday.
Greece is in a deepening recession, while
laboring to rein in a runaway budget deficit and public debt that brought it to
the brink of bankruptcy in May. That was avoided through a three-year, 110 billion
euro package of emergency loans from the European Union and the International Monetary
Fund. The country still cannot tap markets for long-term debt because the interest
rates demanded for its bonds remain prohibitively high, but it has begun issuing
monthly treasury bills. Tuesday's sale was well-received by analysts.
"This is a good result, especially considering
that there are no T-bill redemptions this month to support demand," Chiara
Cremonesi, fixed income strategist at UniCredit Research, said in a note to investors.
"While one could argue that the good
result was likely driven by the attractive yield level ... and by the limited risk
of the investment (the EC/IMF loan will still be on in six months to cover borrowing
needs), still we regard today's result as good, given that the auction came in a
rather difficult environment for periphery paper," the note said.
In return for the EU and IMF loans, the government
has imposed strict austerity measures in an effort to overhaul the country's economy
and bring the budget deficit down from 13.6 percent of gross domestic product in
2009 to 8.1 percent this year.
The measures, which have included cutting
public sector salaries, trimming pensions and increasing taxes across the board,
have angered unions. About 200 railway workers demonstrated in central Athens on
Tuesday to protest plans to partially privatize the rail company, while train routes
were disrupted as workers held limited work stoppages.
