Athens : Greece is confident it will cover its borrowing needs in the coming months and does not need any rescue, its fin-ance minister said yesterday, while the country's borrowing costs hit their highest since joining the euro.
"We are not expecting anyone to come to our rescue. Greece has not asked for it, nor is it expecting anything of that sort," Finance Minister George Papaconstantinou told a banking conference.
"We will be able to satisfy our borrowing requirements in international markets in the next weeks and months, according to the schedule we have," he said. He did not give any detail and did not specify how much borrowing would be covered.
Greece said on Wednesday it might sell bonds directly to the public to fund its bloated budget deficit but markets responded by sending Greek borrowing costs sharply higher and putting fresh pressure on the euro.
The spread on the country's 10-year bonds over benchmark German Bunds hit a fresh record of 311 basis points yesterday, the highest since joining the euro in 2001.
"Despite the fact that the stability plan was well received by the EU, we have still not convinced markets," Papaconstantinou said. "Until we show some tangible results we will not be able to normalise the international environment."
