Greece will try to raise 3.125 billion euros ($3.8 billion) in an auction of three-month treasury bills next week to try to avoid a looming cash crunch, a finance ministry official said on Friday.
“This is to cover the country’s current needs and avoid finding ourselves in a dead-end,” the official said as the government finds itself in great need of cash to pay salaries and pensions and faces redeeming a 3.2-billion-euro bond held by the European Central Bank on August 20.
While Greece has been shut out of the long-term debt markets since 2010, it has regularly issued short-term debt, although the Tuesday auction dwarfs previous placements.
Greece raised 812.5 million euros on Tuesday in an auction of six-month treasury bills, paying a slightly lower rate of 4.68 percent.
In its last three-month treasury bill sale, on July 17, Greece raised 1.625 billion euros at a slightly lower rate of 4.28 percent.
(source: AFP)
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