Greece to beat primary surplus target, plans more bond issues, FinMin official says
Greece expects to attain a larger-than-targeted primary budget surplus this year and plans to tap bond markets again in the coming six to seven months, a senior finance ministry official said on Wednesday.
Athens is keen to conclude a third bailout review speedily and smoothen its return to market financing as its bailout program ends in August next year.
Greece returned to bond markets for the first time in three years in July. It sold 3 billion euros of new five-year bonds alongside a tender to buy back outstanding 5-year paper issued in 2014.
“Within the next six to seven months there will be efforts to tap bond markets,” the finance ministry official told reporters, declining to be named. “It will involve [raising] new money and a bit of debt management.”
The official said the country is set to exceed a targeted 1.75 percent of GDP primary budget surplus this year, excluding debt servicing costs. [Reuters]
