New T-bill auction in April
The state’s Public Debt Management Agency (PDMA) announced yesterday it would issue 13-, 26- and 52-week Treasury bills next month, as it has to refund the 13-week T-bills it issued on January 13, and which amount to 1.17 billion euros. This came a day after the completion of the 10-year bond issuance that saw interest rates soar to a record level of 6.13 percent. Short-term borrowing may not cost dearly but it forces the state to borrow more during the year. Preliminary estimates put the amount to be drawn upon next month at between 2.5 and 3 billion euros. Up until Wednesday, when the 10-year bond issue was completed, the state had borrowed a total of 26 billion euros this year. For the whole of 2009, the state intends to borrow no more than 44 billion euros, according to earlier statements by PDMA head Spyros Papanikolaou, although other estimates predict this amount at over 50 billion euros.
