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Risk on Greek debt keeps rising

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2 Feb 2010

Greek bonds fell to a fresh record low last week, reflecting falling investor confidence in the country managing its fiscal woes, after the Greek Finance Ministry denied press reports that it was about to sell a chunk of government debt to China.

The ministry denied a report in the UK’s Financial Times saying that the government had chosen investment bank Goldman Sachs to sell up to 25 billion euros of Greek bonds to China but reiterated plans for an investor roadshow in Asia.

Traders have been hoping that a major deal with China could help to get Athens through its worst financial crisis in decades as some 20 billion euros of Greek sovereign bonds come due in April and May.

As Greek bonds continued to take a beating last week, Luxembourg’s Jean-Claude Juncker, who leads the group of euro-area finance ministers, said there is no risk of the Greek state going bankrupt.

“The risk of a bankruptcy in Greece doesn’t exist,” Juncker said in Luxembourg .

“I object to two eventualities that won’t happen: a state bankruptcy of Greece and an exit from the eurozone [that is] based on an absurd theory,” Juncker said.

Meanwhile, billionaire investor George Soros said in Davos, Switzerland, that while Greece’s fiscal crisis is highlighting weaknesses in the euro region’s political structure, there is a “strong force” holding the bloc together.

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