Extra issue of T-bills is on the cards
The Finance Ministry is expected to issue an extraordinary set of three-month treasury bills in the next few days to draw 1.6 billion euros. Market experts say that the move is aimed at covering part of the amount of the recent exchange of T-bills with new bonds.
The ministry reissued 2014 three- and five-year bonds in September in order to exchange them with part of the existing T-bills. At that time it swapped T-bills worth 1.6 billion euros and made it clear that it would proceed to additional issues of T-bills to draw the same amount in the following months.
There has reportedly been quite a lot of activity concerning the issue in recent days, although the ministry did not confirm such a plan on Tuesday.
The issue would certainly improve the state’s cash flow. Although the ministry insists there are no problems in that department, it is obvious that a 1.6-billion-euro liquidity injection would end any market speculation over whether Greece has sufficient cash in its coffers, considering the delay in the completion of the creditors’ monitoring process and possible political developments in the coming months.
