Greece raises 1.3 bln euros at increased rates in latest auction

Greece sold 1.3 billion euros (1.37 billion U.S. dollars) worth of treasury bills in an auction on Wednesday, the country's Public Debt Management Agency announced.

The 13-week bills auctioned fetched an interest rate of 2.7 percent, higher than 2.5 percent during previous auctions last month.

Bids submitted totaled 1.3 billion euros, 1.3 times more than the asked sum.

Greece accepted also non-competitive bids up to 30 percent of the auction amount. The final settlement date for the treasury bill auction is March 13.

Shut out of international markets since the start of the debt crisis in late 2009, Greece has been running a monthly auction program to raise supplementary financing.

With the country still engaged in tough negotiations with its creditors, treasury bill auctions have become the key source of funding to meet Greece's financing needs this month.

International creditors requested concrete progress in reforms in coming weeks before releasing further loans tranches in April under the Feb. 20 Eurogroup deal to extend a bailout agreement until June.

There is mounting concern that Greece may face a cash crunch in the coming weeks. Endit