ATHENS — Greece on Tuesday raised 3.0 billion euros from capital markets through a successful completion of a 10-year bond issue which attracted significant interest.

The interest of the 10-year bond loan was set at 1.55 pct, while bids submitted surpassed 16.5 billion euros.

Commenting on the success of the new issue, government spokesman Stelios Petsas said that "the markets' confidence towards Greece and the government is confirmed in action and that is to the benefit of all Greeks".

It was the third time this year that Greece resorted to international capital markets, after a 15-year bond (2.5 billion euros at 1.88 pct) and a seven-year bond (2.0 billion euros at 2.0 pct).

BNP Paribas, BofA, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, HSBS and JPMorgan acted as underwriters of the issue.

The bond issue will strengthen Greece's cash, which, according to Finance Minister Christos Staikouras, totaled 36.6 billion euros at the end of March. "Greece has received one more confidence vote from the international investment market," he said. "For the second time after the coronavirus pandemic broke out, and despite difficult economic conditions, Greece accessed the markets successfully."

Staikouras added that this "proved the markets recognize the effectiveness of the government's cohesive plan and its reliability over the management of the health crisis and its economic repercussions."

State bond yields eased further in the domestic electronic secondary bond market. The 10-year bond yield fell to 1.42 pct from 1.48 pct on Friday. The yield spread between the 10-year Greek and German benchmark bonds shrank to 1.74 pct from 1.80 pct last week with the German Bund yielding -0.32 pct. Turnover was 70 million euros of which 64 million were sell orders.