A Greek debt market foray should be step to full return, government says

Record ID: 903479

  • Title: A Greek debt market foray should be step to full return, government says
  • Date: 20th July 2017
  • Summary: ATHENS, GREECE (JULY 20, 2017) (REUTERS) GREEK GOVERNMENT SPOKESMAN DIMITRIS TZANAKOPOULOS ADDRESSING JOURNALISTS AT A NEWS BRIEFING TZANAKOPOULOS ON PODIUM (SOUNDBITE) (Greek) GREEK GOVERNMENT SPOKESMAN DIMITRIS TZANAKOPOULOS SAYING: "We are closely monitoring developments in bond markets, we are monitoring trends, and when we consider the time is right we will take the first step towards the markets." TZANAKOPOULOS ON PODIUM LISTENING TO QUESTION (SOUNDBITE) (Greek) GREEK GOVERNMENT SPOKESMAN DIMITRIS TZANAKOPOULOS SAYING: "The decision of the government is not only related to bond yields, but to a comprehensive strategy and preparation to ensure that in August 2018 we will have regained market access." TZANAKOPOULOS LISTENING TO QUESTION
  • Embargoed: 3rd August 2017 15:22
  • Keywords: Greece return to markets austerity bailout debt creditors
  • Location: ATHENS, GREECE
  • City: ATHENS, GREECE
  • Country: Greece
  • Topics: Budget/Taxation/Revenue,Government/Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA0016QIVY2V
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Greece will seek to ensure seamless market access when its bailout programme expires next year, its government spokesman said on Thursday (July 20), as speculation grew that the country's first debt market foray in three years was imminent.
    Greek government spokesman Dimitris Tzanakopoulos said Athens was closely monitoring developments and trends in the bond markets and when the government "considers the time is right" it would take the "first step".
    A market return would be considered as part of an overall strategy, he said, to ensure Greece can fully return to markets when its current bailout, the third since 2010, is over.
    Greece is keen to tap money markets in a test run before its latest bailout expires in August 2018. In the context of its debt strategy, Tzanakopoulos said, bond yields - which he said have been falling since the country cleared a bailout review on June 15 - were being taken into account.
    Greece has hired six banks to arrange its first bond sale since being frozen out of financial markets and almost falling out of the euro in 2015, Thomson Reuters market news and data service IFR reported on Wednesday.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2017. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register