Greek Treasury Bills 希腊短期国库债券

By Malcolm Brabant, Athens

媒体英语会带大家一起学习BBC撰稿人在报道世界大事时常用到的单词和短语。

Background: 今天受债务危机困扰的希腊政府希望能通过国际金融市场来募集10亿英镑（约15亿美元）。这次短期国库债券的拍卖是对希腊整体经济的信用度的关键考验。同时欧元区也通过了针对希腊的救助机制，涉及援助资金达260亿英镑（约400亿美金）。

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.