Greece will launch a multibillion euro bond issue this week, the Financial Times (FT) reported yesterday, in the wake of Thursday’s deal to help the country out of its debt crisis.
Petros Christodoulou, the head of Greece’s public debt management agency, told the paper Athens wanted to borrow 5 billion euros (US$6.7 billion) from the bond markets.
“We would like to return to the market within March,” he added.
Greece is likely to issue either a three or seven-year bond this month, followed by another similar-sized issue next month in what will be a crucial test of confidence, the FT said.
A deal was brokered on Thursday under which the 16 nations in the eurozone agreed to offer Greece loans in combination with the IMF.
The deal came at a crucial time for Athens, which has to ensure funding by May to repay debt of 20 billion euros.
“We believe we will not need to use it,” Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou said afterwards, adding: “Greece has regained credibility. Its banking sector is not threatened and the money is there safely.”
Meanwhile, the borrowing rate at which Greece can raise money on debt markets fell on Friday.
The yield on Greek 10-year bonds — the interest rate which Greece has to pay to borrow money — eased to 6.193 percent late on Friday, a sign of investor confidence. The rate had gone up to almost 7 percent earlier this year as investors worried about a possible default.
Lingering concerns remain among investors over how the financial rescue will work in practice and over the role of the IMF, as well as the fiscal problems that the Greek debt drama exposed.
European stock markets fell on Friday in a cautious reaction to the EU’s rescue plan for Greece. London’s benchmark FTSE 100 index fell 0.43 percent, the Paris CAC 40 ended the day down 0.29 percent, and the Frankfurt DAX lost 0.21 percent.
MULTIFACETED: A task force has analyzed possible scenarios and created responses to assist domestic industries in dealing with US tariffs, the economics minister said The Executive Yuan is tomorrow to announce countermeasures to US President Donald Trump’s planned reciprocal tariffs, although the details of the plan would not be made public until Monday next week, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said yesterday. The Cabinet established an economic and trade task force in November last year to deal with US trade and tariff related issues, Kuo told reporters outside the legislature in Taipei. The task force has been analyzing and evaluating all kinds of scenarios to identify suitable responses and determine how best to assist domestic industries in managing the effects of Trump’s tariffs, he
‘SWASTICAR’: Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s close association with Donald Trump has prompted opponents to brand him a ‘Nazi’ and resulted in a dramatic drop in sales Demonstrators descended on Tesla Inc dealerships across the US, and in Europe and Canada on Saturday to protest company chief Elon Musk, who has amassed extraordinary power as a top adviser to US President Donald Trump. Waving signs with messages such as “Musk is stealing our money” and “Reclaim our country,” the protests largely took place peacefully following fiery episodes of vandalism on Tesla vehicles, dealerships and other facilities in recent weeks that US officials have denounced as terrorism. Hundreds rallied on Saturday outside the Tesla dealership in Manhattan. Some blasted Musk, the world’s richest man, while others demanded the shuttering of his
TIGHT-LIPPED: UMC said it had no merger plans at the moment, after Nikkei Asia reported that the firm and GlobalFoundries were considering restarting merger talks United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電), the world’s No. 4 contract chipmaker, yesterday launched a new US$5 billion 12-inch chip factory in Singapore as part of its latest effort to diversify its manufacturing footprint amid growing geopolitical risks. The new factory, adjacent to UMC’s existing Singapore fab in the Pasir Res Wafer Fab Park, is scheduled to enter volume production next year, utilizing mature 22-nanometer and 28-nanometer process technologies, UMC said in a statement. The company plans to invest US$5 billion during the first phase of the new fab, which would have an installed capacity of 30,000 12-inch wafers per month, it said. The
Taiwan’s official purchasing managers’ index (PMI) last month rose 0.2 percentage points to 54.2, in a second consecutive month of expansion, thanks to front-loading demand intended to avoid potential US tariff hikes, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday. While short-term demand appeared robust, uncertainties rose due to US President Donald Trump’s unpredictable trade policy, CIER president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) told a news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s economy this year would be characterized by high-level fluctuations and the volatility would be wilder than most expect, Lien said Demand for electronics, particularly semiconductors, continues to benefit from US technology giants’ effort
RSS