Spain sold 3 billion euros ($3.8 billion) of 15-year bonds today, the maximum set for the auction, at the last bond sale before facing its largest debt redemptions of the rest of the year.
The bonds were sold at an average yield of 5.116 percent, compared with 4.434 percent at an auction of the same securities on April 22, the Bank of Spain said. Demand was 2.57 times the amount sold, compared with the bid-to-cover ratio of 1.79 at the April sale. The bond rose after the auction, pushing the yield down 4 basis points to 5.16 percent, according to Bloomberg generic prices.
Spain, which has 24.7 billion euros of debt maturing this month, is trying to convince investors it can cut the third- largest deficit in the euro region while strengthening its financial system. The government is hoping the publication of stress tests next week will improve lenders’ access to capital markets and reduce their dependence on the European Central Bank, while reassuring investors about the cost of any bailout.
Spanish lenders borrowed a record 126.3 billion euros from the ECB in June, up 48 percent from the previous month, according to data compiled by the Bank of Spain. That compares with a drop of 4 percent to 496.6 billion euros for euro-area lenders as a whole.
Greek, Portuguese Sales
Spain’s auction follows Greece’s sale of Treasury bills on July 13, its first since the country accepted a three-year bailout plan from the European Union in May after its borrowing costs surged. Greece secured an interest rate at that sale below the 5 percent charged on the emergency European loans.
Portugal sold more debt than targeted in an auction yesterday, a day after Moody’s Investors Service cut the country’s credit rating, and Italy also sold 6.8 billion euros of bonds yesterday.
The Spanish government has said it will have no trouble paying the July redemptions, particularly as repayment coincides with a period of increased tax revenue.
“The markets know perfectly well that we have been executing our funding strategy beyond our needs with no particular concern,” Deputy Finance Minister Jose Manuel Campa said in an interview on June 22. As an example of the Treasury’s strategy, he said Spain didn’t have to go to the market to raise its portion of the emergency loan extended to Greece in May.
Financing Costs
Still, financing costs are rising, with the yield premium investors demand to hold Spain’s 10-year debt over comparable German bonds at 206.8 basis points, more than twice the average of the past year.
Fitch Ratings cut Spain’s credit rating to AA+ on May 28, citing concerns about the economy’s ability to grow. Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services ranks Spain AA, while Moody’s Investors Service put the country’s rating on review for a possible downgrade on June 30, citing deteriorating growth prospects and the risk the government won’t meet its fiscal targets.
As a result of austerity measures including public wage cuts, a reduction in investment and a pension freeze, the government revised its growth forecast for next year to 1.3 percent from 1.8 percent. That’s still more than double the International Monetary Fund’s 0.6 percent forecast.
Even with Spain’s budget deficit at 11.2 percent of gross domestic product, more than three times the EU limit, its debt amounted to 53 percent of GDP last year, lower than in Germany and less than the euro-region average of 79 percent.
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