The Greek Government is moving forward with a 10-year bond reissue, while ECB is preparing to raise interest rates and government debt remains cheaply financed.

Hellenic Government

The Hellenic Government is expected to enter the markets later today with the re-issuance of a 10-year bond maturing June 16, 2036, just two days before the European Central Bank’s scheduled interest rate hike.

The Government Debt Management Organization (GEMO) instructed Alpha Bank, Barclays, Citi, Commerzbank, Nomura and Societe Generale to handle the issuance.

The move was already included in the borrowing plan for the first half of 2026, which called for a bond reissue on June 17. The aim of the planned outflows in buying is not so much to raise new liquidity, but to strengthen the yield curve of Greek securities and stimulate the secondary market.

Resilience despite interest rate pressures

Despite the pressures on eurozone bond markets from the ECB‘s expected decision to raise rates again by 0.25%, the Greek bond market continues to show remarkable resilience.

The yield on the Greek 10-year bond in the secondary market stands at 3.77%, while the spread over the corresponding German security remains at 0.78 percentage points, as the German yield stands at 3.07%.

At the same time, according to Eurostat data, the cost of servicing Greek government debt is among the lowest in the eurozone. The apparent servicing cost fell in 2025 to 2.18% from 2.27% in 2024, a development attributed to the long maturity and the particular structure of the debt.

According to the GDPF data, at end-March 2026 the cost of servicing General Government debt was 1.38% on a cash basis, including swaps, and 1.84% if deferred interest on EFSF loans is included.

At the European level, the highest apparent cost of debt was recorded in Romania at 5.2%, followed by Poland at 4.5%, Czech Republic at 3.1% and Italy at 3.0%. In contrast, the lowest rates were Ireland at 1.4%, Luxembourg at 1.5%, Netherlands at 1.7% and Germany at 1.8%.

Long-term loan repayments of €6.94 billion

Of the 400 billion of public debt of the Central Government, 73% or about 292 billion is in the Central Government. euros is non-negotiable, as it relates to loans granted by EU member states and institutions such as the ESM and the EFSF under the Memoranda of Understanding.

Last week, the ESM and EFSF gave the green light for early repayment of Greek Loan Facility (GLF) loans of 6.94 billion, which had original maturities in the period 2029-2035. Repayment will be made through the cash reserves of the so-called “hard cushion”.

The GLF was part of the first support package for Greece in 2010 and included bilateral loans from 14 eurozone countries totalling 52.9 billion. EUR, of which some €52.3 billion remains outstanding.

This move represents the second largest early repayment of GLF loans, after a similar action in 2025.