A total of €3.5bn was raised by Athens through the issuance of new 10-year benchmark bonds as offerings reached €21.9bn.
The result of strong demand was a reduction in the issue rate from average swap levels of +175 basis points (or about 4.5%), which was the original estimate, to 165 basis points above average swaps, i.e. about 4.4%. .

“Greece today began issuing 10-year bonds, lifting the curtain on its 2023 loan program. The release was successful. In terms of demand, quality of funds and cost of borrowing, given the volatility of the international environment,” Finance Minister Christos Staikouras said today.

He added: The Government and the Public Debt Management Organization are acting decisively and far-sighted, taking into account the current and future decisions of the European Central Bank in the implementation of monetary policy.

We are building strong cash reserves by pursuing prudent fiscal policies and implementing reforms so that we can boldly support households and businesses for as long as needed, and further strengthen the sustainable growth of the Greek economy.”

Recall that yesterday ODDIX announced the issue of new 10-year reference bonds and gave the corresponding mandate to Barclays, Bofa Securities, Commerzbank, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan and Societe Generale.

ODDIX’s intention was to take advantage of the recent positive climate in the Greek bond market, with some houses predicting an upgrade of Greece’s rating to investment grade even before the election.

In particular, Societe Generale expressed its assessment that in the first review for 2023, on January 27, Fitch will raise Greece’s credit rating, betting on the restoration of the investment rating even before the elections, in particular, on April 21.

JP Morgan, for its part, is looking at raising Greece to investment grade towards the end of 2023 or early 2024. These assessments are in line with the opinion of other analytical agencies, according to which the rating agencies will wait for the elections until the return of Greece’s rating to the investment level.

In any case, the efforts to reduce the Greek debt do not go unnoticed by the market: Yesterday, in its analysis, Moody’s indicated that by 2023 the debt will fall to 162.9% of GDP, a decrease of 31.6 percentage points in the period 2021-2023. .

As noted by the rating agency, Greece is among the few countries (along with Ireland, Cyprus, Portugal and Croatia) that will show less debt this year than in 2019. In fact, the reduction of Greek debt by 18 percentage points compared to 2019 by 2023 will be one of the best in the world, even if it starts from high levels.

Source: moneyreview.gr