Wednesday, April 9, 2014

Greece Is Back in the Bond Market

A sign that Europe is lifting out of its lengthy economic doldrums: Greece has announced it plans to sell long-term government bonds, for the first time since the European Union bailed the country out two years ago. The fact that Greece expects there to be a market for its debt is a very good signal for the health of its economy.

The country is likely to have to pay a high interest rate on those bonds, though. Existing ten-year Greek debt is currently paying about 6 percent. A more stable economy, like Germany, is paying closer to 1.5 percent. Here in America, the ten-year Treasury bond is currently yielding 2.69 percent.

Those rates are a long way from where Greece was just a few years ago, though. As recently as 2012, ten-year Greek bonds were paying more than 30 percent, and they didn't slip under 10 percent for good until late last year.

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