by Maria Spiliopoulou
ATHENS, Aug. 2 (Xinhua) -- Greece raised 812.5 million euros (961.5 million U.S. dollars) on Wednesday in the sale of six-month treasury bills, according to an announcement by the Public Debt Management Agency (PDMA).
The treasury bills were priced to yield 2.5 percent, down from the previous auction carried out in July, when the interest rate stood at 2.78 percent.
Shut out of international markets since 2010, Greece runs a monthly treasury bill auction to cover maturing debts and meet its financing needs.
On July 25, the debt-laden country made its first test return to bond markets in three years. Greece raised three billion euros at that auction, selling five-year state bonds at a 4.625-percent interest rate, down from the 4.95-percent interest rate it had secured in 2014.
Greece is expected to fully return to the markets in 2018 when the current bailout program end, the third since 2010. (1 euro = 1.18 U.S. dollars)
