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Greece may resume bond sales next year

ATHENS (Bloomberg) – Greek Finance Minister George Papaconstantinou said the government may resume bond sales next year as he welcomed an auction of Treasury bills at a rate below what the country pays for European aid.

Greece yesterday sold 1.625 billion euros ($2.1 billion) of 26-week Treasury bills at a yield of 4.65 percent, less than the five percent rate tied to three-year emergency loans that fellow euro-area nations approved in May to prevent it from defaulting. Investors bid for 3.64 times the bills offered.

Papaconstantinou said at least ten foreign banks took part in the sale and the outcome reflects "very positive" budget developments. He also said that "all our reforms are on track." Greece yesterday reported that its budget deficit shrank 46 percent in the first half of the year.

"We are satisfied," Papaconstantinou told reporters in Brussels after a meeting with his European Union counterparts. "2011 will be good a year to come back to the market assuming conditions continue to normalize."

Greece is cutting spending and raising taxes in return for 110 billion euros in euro-area and International Monetary Fund aid.