Greece may issue more Treasury bills

Greece is considering issuing more Treasury bills this month as one of the options to cover a funding squeeze this month, a senior finance ministry official told Reuters yesterday.

Cash-strapped Greece is due to run out of cash within weeks if it does not get the next aid instalment from its international lenders. It also needs to repay a €3.2 billion bond maturing on August 20. The European Union and International Monetary Fund have promised the country will be funded through August but the details of the funding have yet to be disclosed.

“One of the alternatives being considered is the higher T-bills,” the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. “We are discussing the issue with our partners. A final decision has not been made.”

Greece has fallen behind targets agreed as conditions of its €130 billion bailout deal, mainly due to three months of political uncertainty as it struggled to form a government after two inconclusive elections in May and June.

Another option for seeing it through until crunch meetings with other EU leaders in September would be a bridge loan from its lenders, a finance ministry source told Reuters last month.

Deputy Finance Minister Christos Staikouras sounded alarm bells on Tuesday on how Athens would pay public service wages, pensions and other every day expenses, telling state TV that Greece‘s cash reserves are almost empty.

The daily Kathimerini said Greece’s PDMA debt agency has decided to issue €6 billion in T-bills in August, up from about €3 to €4 billion Athens auctions every month.

Monthly T-bill sales are Greece’s sole source of market funding but Greece’s second EU/IMF bailout plan approved in March hopes to reduce the country’s reliance on T-bills.