ATHENS- Greece is considering issuing a new, long-term bond in the coming weeks, its first attempt to tap bond markets this year, a Greek government official told Reuters.
"Greece is considering a new bond issue in the next, coming weeks," the official said on condition of anonymity. "It will be a long term issue," the official added, without providing further details.
Outlining its funding strategy for 2020, Greece's debt agency PDMA said in December it could tap bond markets this year to borrow 4 billion to 8 billion euros.
Greece exited bailout programmes in August 2018 and has accumulated a cash buffer of about 32 billion euros, sufficient to cover four years of maturing debt, assuming outstanding T-Bills are rolled over.
Its main goals this year will be to improve the liquidity of its yield curve, enhance its investor base towards more real money players and maintain regular market operations, PDMA has said.
(Reporting by Lefteris Papadimas, writing by George Georgiopoulos; Editing by Alex Richardson) ((renee.maltezou@thomsonreuters.com; +30 210 3376439; Reuters Messaging: renee.maltezou.reuters.com@reuters.net))
