By T. Tsiros
[email protected]
The government’s top economic team is reportedly days from commencing an “operation market exit” expected to culminate in the summer, possibly over three phases, and timed ahead of the end to the current bailout program on Aug. 20, 2018.
The first phase involves the floating of a seven-year bond with a target of draining three billion euros from the markets.
Meanwhile, a “dress rehearsal” for a full foray into sovereign capitals by the Greek state’s Public Debt Management Organization is expected in May or early June, a period when negotiations with creditors are expected to reach their peak over the fourth – and last – review of the ongoing bailout – the third consecutive adjustment program since 2010.
The figure that will be raised from the first “clean exit” into the markets has reportedly received a “green light” by creditors, with the latter closely watching the course of the country’s external debt load and the accompanying interest rates that will burden future Greek budgets. The last two forays into the markets – in the summer and November 2017 – were rollovers of older bond issues. A figure of three billion euros is reportedly the target, while the Public Debt Management Organization is eyeing an interest rate lower that 4 percent.
The yield of Greece’s benchmark 10-year bond fell to 3.62 percent on Monday, reaching pre-crisis January 2006 levels, whereas the spread between the Greek 10-year yield and the German equivalent fell to 294 basis points.
