Greece reissues 20-year state bond in urgent auction

ATHENS, March 30 (Xinhua) -- Greece reissued on Tuesday a 20- year state bond in an urgent auction which lasted just a few hours, and closed with a total of 390 million euros (about 525.8 million U.S. dollars) raised at an interest rate of 5.9 percent.

The amount gathered by the Greek Organization of Public Debt Management is much less than the target set this time. The organization sought one billion euros initially.

The development enforces the skepticism expressed by some analysts considering the short-term prospects of the Greek economy, which contradicts the government's optimism that the situation regarding the country's lending conditions in international markets in a first step will improve soon.

The latest developments in the Greek economy after the agreement of the EU leaders in Brussels last week for the support of Athens were discussed on Tuesday noon between Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou and the Bank of Greece Governor George Provopoulos.

No statements were made to the press by this time, but the government pointed to Finance Minister George Papaconstantinou who stressed that the messages Athens received from international markets since last week are positive.

Papaconstantinou added that the news will get better and better, once Greece implements fully and within the timetable the measures included in the Stability and Growth Program approved by Brussels.

Tuesday's issue of the 20-year bond follows the launch of a new 7-year bond on Monday which was characterized positive by Athens, as it resulted in 5 billion euros at an interest rate of 5.9 percent. It is high according to European standards, but it is lower than the interest rate debt-ridden Greece got the previous time this year. On Tuesday Greece offered the 7-year bond issue to private savers also.

So far this year Greece has already borrowed 23.6 billion euros, can easily meet its financing needs for April and the government is expected to make decisions on the next steps after the following weekend's Easter holidays. (1 euro = 1.3482 U.S. dollars)