Greece’s next foray into the market for sovereign borrowing is expected in the coming period, as the yield for the benchmark 10-year bond easing below 1.35 percent. The country’s public debt management agency has already announced the hiring of BNP Paribas, BofA Securities, Goldman Sachs, Deutsche Bank and JPMorgan Chase for the bond issue.
Greek FinMin Christos Staikouras has essentially announced the new bond issue within the summer in statements last week, with the timetable apparently moved up on the back of a decision by the ECB to expand its PEPP program by 600 billion euros, standing 1.35 trillion euros.
The message that Athens wants to send the international financial community and eurozone partners is that it will not dip in to a “cash cushion” left over from the third memorandum and excessive primary budget surpluses, and that it will not need fresh borrowing from the ESM.
