Portugal pushes 910 million debt
The Treasury went to the market this Wednesday for a debt exchange operation. It bought securities which mature in 2021 and 2022, issuing in return bonds with a term in 2023 and 2027.
The Portuguese Treasury has postponed the repayment of €910 million in debt due in 2020 and 2021. In the exchange of Treasury bonds (T-Bonds), which took place this Wednesday, the Treasury and Public Debt Management Agency (IGCP) issued four and eight year bonds.
This was the fifth debt exchange operation carried out this year by IGCP and is in line with the strategy of taking advantage of the current low interest rates to issue cheaper debt and extend repayment maturities. The total amount of OT that has been pushed since the beginning of the year reached 3,768 million euros later on.
In Wednesday’s exchange operation, the agency led by Cristina Casalinho bought, on the one hand, 560 million euros of T-Bonds that reached maturity on April 15, 2021, as well as 350 million euros in T-Bonds that expired on October 17, 2022.
In exchange, the Treasury issued 350 million euros in bonds maturing on October 25, 2023 and another 560 million euros maturing on April 14, 2027.
Portugal is reducing its obligations to investors in the coming years. In 2020, the Treasury bonds that will reach maturity are equivalent to 8,275 million euros, while in the following year there were around 15 billion euros to be paid before this operation. Now, this amount is reduced by 560 million. In 2022, another 15 billion euros will be paid out. And the following year, it falls below EUR 12 billion thanks to the exchange operation.