Yahoo Finance Cyprus becomes third euro state to return to bond sales in April
THE GOVERNMENT of Cyprus yesterday became the third on the Eurozone’s troubled periphery to return to bond markets this month.
The country’s finance ministry said it had raised €100m (£82.5m) from the debt sale, conducted as a private placement on the London stock exchange. The six year bonds will yield 6.5 per cent interest.
The country’s credit rating was slashed in 2012, and a bailout by international lenders followed in 2013, in exchange for which the government agreed to bring in a bank deposit levy, skimming revenue from individual bank accounts in the country.
Two other crisis-hit countries in the Eurozone returned to the bond markets after lengthy absences this month: both the Greek and Portuguese governments marketed debt with yields falling to much lower levels than those seen in recent years.
Bank of Cyprus, the country’s largest financial institution, also announced yesterday that it would release some of the deposits that were frozen during the crisis. At the time, the bank tried to stop nearly €1bn from being withdrawn in an attempt to prevent capital flight.
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