ATHENS, Oct 9 — Greece, which has needed three international bailouts this decade, yesterday made its second bond sale at record-low yields since July, the prime minister said, raising €1.5 billion (RM6.9 billion) at 1.5 per cent.

“The historically low yield of 1.5 per cent for Greece's 10-year bond is yet another vote of confidence in the country's economy and strong growth prospects,” Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said in a tweet.

Athens raised €2.5 billion in a seven-year bond placement in July at 1.9 per cent, which was then a record-low yield in a primary auction. At the previous auction of 10-year bonds in March the yield was 3.9 per cent.

The yield, or the rate of return, on Greek 10-year government bonds spiked to over 40 per cent on the secondary market at one point as investors demanded high returns to hold the highly risky debt.

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The 1.5 per cent yield puts Greek 10-year bonds at roughly the same level as 10-year US government bonds, which were trading at 1.522 per cent on secondary markets yesterday.

As Greece's economy has begun to rebound and the government has kept its finances in check, the country's borrowing costs have fallen, although they remain far above those for its eurozone counterparts.

Both Germany and France are able to borrow at negative yields, while the yields on Italy's 10-year bonds is roughly 0.84 per cent.

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Greece expects its economy to grow by 2.8 per cent in 2020 while respecting fiscal pledges to the country's creditors, a draft budget released Monday said. — AFP