Greek Treasury Bills 希臘短期國庫債券
By Malcolm Brabant, Athens
The Greek government wants to raise a lot of money
媒體英語會帶大家一起學習BBC撰稿人在報道世界大事時常用到的單詞和短語。
Background: 今天受債務危機困擾的希臘政府希望能通過國際金融市場來募集10億英鎊(約15億美元)。這次短期國庫債券的拍賣是對希臘整體經濟的信用度的關鍵考驗。同時歐元區也通過了針對希臘的救助機制,涉及援助資金達260億英鎊(約400億美金)。
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The Greeks will be selling a mixture of treasury or T-bills, as they are called, that mature after six months or a year.
These are regarded as the safest form of securities and as a result usually attract a low level of interest.
But Athens paid a painful price when it last auctioned T bills.
One-year bills sold in January, at the height of the financial crisis, commanded an interest rate of 2.2%.
Whereas the same bill, sold in October 2009, before Greece's predicament exploded onto the world stage, only yielded interest of 0.9%.
Analysts will scrutinise the auction to determine whether the markets feel secure enough to dabble in Greek debt, now that the rescue plan is ready to roll.
Some economists doubt that there will be a significant reduction in interest rates demanded during January's sale.
The success, or not, of the auction, could be a factor in whether the Greeks decide to activate the Eurozone rescue mechanism.
The government here wants to be able to borrow from the international markets at reasonable interest rates.
But if traders are reluctant to purchase Greek debt, then the Prime Minister, George Papandreou, may be compelled to pull the ripcord of Brussels' parachute.
Glossary 詞匯表 (收聽發音, 請單擊英語單詞)
- treasury bills (T-bills)短期國庫債券
- mature 成熟,到期
- securities 保障
- level of interest利率
- auctioned 拍賣
- predicament 困境;窘境
- yielded 生產出,帶來
- scrutinise 細察
- dabble 嘗試,淺嘗
- ready to roll準備啟動
- Eurozone rescue mechanism歐元區救助計劃
- traders 交易人
- debt 債務
- pull the ripcord of Brussels' parachute 拉開布魯塞爾降落傘的開傘索,指啟動歐盟的救助計劃