In the markets for 11 billion euros the Greek State for 2025

With “weapons” the new upgrades from the rating houses and fiscal stability, Greek “takes a bow” for 2025 seeking to draw 11 billion euros. The presence of the Greek State in bond markets next year is expected to be stronger than this year, due to the increased financial needs of the state budget. As can be seen from the Draft Budget Report submitted to Parliament yesterday by Minister of National Economy & Finance Kostis Hatzidakis, the government’s net borrowing in 2025 will be almost twice as high as this year and is projected to reach 8.5 billion euros from 4.07 billion euros in 2024. In order to meet the financial needs the State will draw from the €11 billion bond market from around €9 billion planned to draw this year. The increased lending needs in 2025 stem firstly from the increase in the government budget deficit on a cash basis at around 4.4 billion euros from 3 billion in 2024. In the deficit of the state budget, EUR 3.7 billion should be added to the loans from the Recovery Fund and EUR 1.7 billion more from the State’s participation in the Share Capital Increases, etc. The net loan of EUR 8.5 billion, if added to the EUR 5.5 billion debt to be paid by the State to serve the State debt, shows all the financial needs of EUR 14 billion. As stated in the draft budget report these needs will be met by EUR 11 billion with long-term borrowing (a recourse to bond markets) and the remaining EUR 3 billion from the consumption of the State’s high reserves. These given, the loan strategy for next year is expected to be limited to the total amount of issues. In particular, the aim of the loan strategy will be to ensure the continued publishing presence of the Greek State on the international capital markets, to further provide high liquidity issues by maintaining as far as possible their already extensive physical maturity, to reduce the lending margins of the Greek State as well as to further ensure the consistency of the Greek State as a state issuer with Eurozone country characteristics. At the same time, the existing positions and characteristics of the Greek public debt portfolio will be used to the maximum extent possible in the context of the general opportunities provided in the short-term part of the European curve. In this context, it will be pursued in the context of the operation of the primary market, more than publishing activity, to implement a portfolio management policy through which the necessary space for the continued presence of the Greek State on the markets, to further reduce the risk of refinancing, to provide the necessary liquidity and to improve the operation of the secondary market of Greek bonds, while taking advantage of the respective slope of the Greek yield curve to ensure an optimal result in terms of lending costs. Source: RES-AE