International market strife over U.S. sanctions on Russia and Turkey has had a knock-on effect with Greek bond yields breaking the four-percent mark on Thursday.
The bad news comes as Greece prepares to officially exit from its bailout program on Aug. 20.
Only last month Standard & Poor’s announced the upgrade of National Bank of Greece’s three-year covered bonds worth €750 million ($881 million) to the BBB- credit rating, four notches above the country’s credit rating.
It was the first time since the start of the economic crisis in Greece that a bond issued by a Greek bank is rated as “investment grade”.
However, markets are now anxious amid the U.S. tension and also because of looming conflict between Italy’s populist government and the EU over fiscal discipline.
Greek newspaper Kathimerini spoke to one fund manager who said Greece should not repeat the February 2017 issue of seven-year state bonds. The yields of these rose sharply in defiance of issuers’ expectations.
See all the latest news from Greece and the world at Greekreporter.com. Contact our newsroom to report an update or send your story, photos and videos. Follow GR on Google News and subscribe here to our daily email!
