Greek stress tests delayed
BANK stress tests on Greece have been delayed while the international community gauges the success of the country’s capital raising programme.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF), European Commission and European Central Bank (ECB) – known as the “troika” – has agreed with Greece’s central bank to postpone testing banks’ solvency by one month to the end of October.
The move will allow the country’s banks’ nine-month results to be assessed. It will also give the National Bank of Greece time to continue its bid to raise €1.7bn (£1.4bn) capital – due for completion next month.
A further test of investor confidence will be tomorrow’s short-term auction of three-month bills.
Greece borrowed more than €1bn in the capital markets last Tuesday in its first debt issue in two months – paying a high yield of 4.82 per cent, compared to 4.65 per cent in July.