Greece to borrow up to 8bln euros

Athens: Greece aims to borrow between 4 and 8 billion euros ($4.4-9 billion) in 2020, the nation´s debt agency said Tuesday, at the close of a year that saw the country´s once-soaring credit rates drop into negative territory.

The public agency said Greece´s total debt burden is expected to decrease from 181 percent of GDP (335 billion euros) in 2018 to 173 percent of GDP (329 billion) in 2019.

The country in 2019 raised 9.0 billion euros in bonds, the agency said in a funding strategy report.

Under the terms of its final bailout, Greece must produce a primary budget surplus of 3.5 percent of GDP until 2022 and of 2.2 percent of GDP on average to 2060.

In its latest budget, Athens forecasts a primary surplus of just over 3.5 percent of GDP in 2020.

Its cash reserves stood at around 32 billion at the end of September 2019, equivalent to over four years of debt maturities, assuming treasury bills are rolled over, the agency said.