Greece hopes it will not have to sell its bonds to the eurozone rescue fund but the country cannot go out to markets at current yield prices, Finance Minister George Papaconstantinou said on Tuesday.
Euro zone leaders agreed earlier this month that the EFSF will be able to buy troubled countries' bonds on the primary market, as part of a package of measures to address the debt crisis. "We hope there will be no need for the EFSF to purchase Greek bonds," Papaconstantinou told reporters.
Thanks to a 110 billion euro ($156.6 billion) EU/IMF bailout, Greece does not need to go back to markets before 2012, when it is planned that it will need to borrow 27 billion euros through bonds, according to finance ministry data.
Investors have shown little or no appetite to buy Greek bonds from those who currently hold them on the secondary market, with most analysts convinced Athens will have to restructure the debt sooner or later at a cost to its creditors. The spread between 10-year Greek government bonds and benchmark German bunds stood at 919 basis points on Tuesday, near record highs.
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