Greece's new state bonds issue closes with "positive results": government

ATHENS, March 29 (Xinhua) -- The books for offers regarding the issue of new 7-year state bonds by Greece, which opened on Monday morning, closed in the evening with quite positive results, according to Greek government sources.

Greece received offers amounting to more than 7 billion euros, 2 billion euros more than the target set by the government, at an interest rate of 5.9 percent, which is considered satisfactory by local officials and analysts, considering the negative perception of the Greek economy in the past few months.

Monday's launch of bonds was a first test of the international markets' reaction to the deal reached last week in Brussels for the support of Greece by other EU member states and the IMF.

Even though the international credit rating agency Fitch maintained the negative outlook for the Greek economy in its latest estimate on Monday, the Greek government expressed optimism that the situation will improve in the following weeks.

"All things do not work automatically. Time is needed. High interest rates will drop, as our government did get the support at the EU summit. The agreed mechanism of support is a credible threat against anyone who tries to exploit the Greek economic crisis," said George Petalotis, the government spokesman.

"The government's target is that there will be no need to activate this mechanism," Greek Finance Minister George Papaconstantinou said in an interview with a local newspaper, reassuring Greeks that the IMF's involvement does not mean that a new wave of austerity measures will follow soon, as some analysts expect.