In Brief
Successful reopening of 3-year bond, yield up Greece enjoyed a successful reopening of a three-year government bond yesterday, meeting firmer demand compared to a previous auction in April with the yield rising by 51 basis points to 4.84 percent. The amount sold in a competitive tender of a 3.8 percent March 2011 bond was 1.6 billion euros, topped off with an extra 320 million in non-competitive bids, Greece’s debt agency said. The bid-to-cover ratio, one gauge of investor demand, improved to 3.04 from 2.89 times the amount tendered competitively in a previous April auction. «The rise in euro interest rates is reflected in the higher average yield in the three-year bond auction, which means more expensive borrowing for the government,» said a trader in a large Greek bank. Greek bonds, seen as peripheral eurozone assets, have historically been the highest yielders in the eurozone. The yield spread of 10-year Greek government paper over benchmark German debt stood at 67 basis points yesterday. (Reuters) New buildings permits fall 2.6 pct in April The number of Greek new building permits fell 2.6 percent year-on-year in April but the permits allowed building over a 6.2 percent larger area, the National Statistics Service (NSS) said yesterday. The NSS said 6,013 new permits were issued nationwide in April, corresponding to 1.675 million square meters, versus 6,173 permits a year earlier, which covered 1.578 million square meters. A total of 20,229 new permits were issued around the country in the January-April period, down 20.5 percent from the year-earlier period, amounting to 5.436 million square meters, the NSS said. (Reuters) Bumper crop Bulgarian farmers hope to harvest 3.8 million tons of wheat this year, well above last year’s 2.4 million tons, due to favorable weather, the chairman of the national grain producers’ association said yesterday. «We see the crop at 3.8 million tons. The yields now are good, but they usually decrease toward the end of the harvest and especially if it rains this week as expected,» Krasimir Avramov told Reuters. The Farm Ministry says this year’s crop is likely to match the crop in 2004 when the Black Sea country harvested 3.96 million tons of wheat. (Reuters) Romanian deficit Romania ran a consolidated budget deficit of 0.4 percent of gross domestic product in the first five months of the year after running surpluses until April, Finance and Economy Ministry data showed yesterday. Data showed the centrist minority government ran a nominal deficit of 1.7 billion lei ($738.5 million) in January-May. The European Union newcomer is targeting a deficit of 2.3 percent of GDP for the end of this year. (Reuters) Printing deal Bulgaria’s printing and advertising company Billboard plans to invest 51.5 million euros ($80.58 million) in a new printing plant in western Bulgaria, the state investment agency said yesterday. The new plant, expected to become operational in 2010, will specialize in printing catalogs, magazines and fliers and export its products to Romania, Greece, Serbia and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Invest Bulgaria agency said. The is trying to boost production-linked investment in the new EU country to help its exports and improve its bloated current account gap. (Reuters)
