Greece sold €487.5 million in 13-week Treasury bills at a yield of negative 0.02%, joining European peers in effectively getting paid to borrow money.
The government received €1.02 billion in total bids for its auction of €375 million in 13-week debt. The issuance follows the European Central Bank's move to restart quantitative easing in a bid to stimulate the eurozone economy.
Other eurozone countries have earlier embarked on negative-yield bond sales, with Germany recently selling 30-year debt with an average yield of negative 0.11%.
The Greek government earlier this week also priced a €1.5 billion tap of its outstanding 10-year bonds at a reoffer yield of 1.50%, lower than the 3.90% yield of the main issuance in March. BNP Paribas, Citi, Goldman Sachs International, HSBC and J.P. Morgan served as joint book runners on that transaction.
Greece is the most indebted eurozone country, with government debt standing at 181.9% of GDP in the first quarter, according to data from Eurostat. The country is required by its creditors to achieve a primary budget surplus of 3.5% of GDP in 2019 and 2020.
