Focus on Portugal Property Immigration and the hot topics of Portugal's Economy: On January 9, Portugal issued €3.25 billion in five-year bonds, with total subscriptions exceeding €11 billion, bringing positive effects to the peripheral countries of the Eurozone.
The strong demand for Portuguese bonds closely follows the robust demand for government bonds issued by Ireland on January 7, marking the beginning of Lisbon's efforts to restore market access ahead of its exit from the three-year bailout program in June.
The yields on government bonds from the Eurozone's "peripheral" countries plummeted this week, contrary to price trends, adding confidence to the stability of the European monetary union. On January 9, the yield on Ireland's five-year bonds fell below that of similar UK bonds. The Bank of England may raise interest rates as early as 2014. European Commission President Barroso stated on January 8 that the Eurozone would ultimately emerge from its difficulties in 2014. However, European Central Bank President Draghi issued more cautious remarks on January 9, warning that the timing for declaring victory is "not yet ripe," as the Eurozone's economic recovery remains weak.
Bankers familiar with the transaction stated that the total subscriptions for Portuguese bonds amounted to €11.2 billion, covering nearly half of Portugal's total financing needs for 2014. The bonds sold had a yield of 4.657%, with most of the approximately 280 institutional investors coming from abroad, and only 11.8% from domestic sources.
