PARIS (MNI) – Greece said Friday that it would sell E3.125 billion
of three-month Treasury bills on Tuesday, a move that was expected as
part of Athens’ plan to repay a E3.2 billion bond maturing on August 20
that is held by the European Central Bank.
Greece has struggled to come up with options to redeem the bonds
after aid payments due under its second bailout plan were suspended in
June. The aid has been delayed until the troika – the ECB, IMF and
European Commission – delivers its assessment of the Greece’s progress
on economic reforms in September.
Greek banks are expected to buy most of the three-month bills using
the emergency liquidity assistance they receive from the Greek central
bank, according to market sources. Greek banks have been using liquidity
assistance from the central bank since the ECB stopped accepting Greek
bonds as collateral last month.
The ECB agreed last week to raise the upper limit of T-bills the
Bank of Greece could accept in exchange for emergency loans from E3
billion to E7 billion, according to German media reports.
–Paris newsroom, +331 4271 5540; jduffy@marketnews.com
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