Greece raises 1.13 bln euros in treasury bill sale, repays 200 mln euros to IMF

Greece drew 1.138 billion euros (1.28 billion U.S. dollars) from the latest treasury bills sale conducted on Wednesday, the public debt management organization PDMA said.

Meanwhile, Athens repaid a 200 million euro loan installment to the International Monetary Fund, Finance Ministry sources said.

The transactions were made as the debt-laden country faced a deteriorating cash squeeze this spring that has renewed fears of imminent default and a Grexit.

The concern was not reflected on the interest rate of the six-month treasury bills auction. It remained stable at 2.97 percent, unchanged from a similar sale in April.

The monthly program of treasury bills auctions has become a key source of funding for Greece to cover its financing needs in the past eight months. But it is not adequate to resolve Athens' liquidity shortage.

Pressure is mounting on Greece with each passing week to secure more funds.

On May 12, Athens needs to repay another 750 million euro loan installment to the IMF. In addition, in May the Leftist government needs to pay pensions and wages of civil servants.

Government officials have admitted that state coffers are running empty.

Hopes of a breakthrough in the upcoming May 11 Eurogroup meeting have faded this week. Months and months of discussions with lenders have hit an impasse.

Greek government sources pointed the finger for the lack of progress at creditors on Tuesday, warning of increasing risks.

On Wednesday, the European Central Bank board members are due to convene to examine the prospect of raising the amount of money Greek banks can borrow from the central Bank of Greece through the Emergency Liquidity Assistance (ELA) mechanism.

ECB has been raising ELA's funding ceiling on a weekly basis since February when it stopped the direct refinancing of Greek banks until Greece clinches an agreement with creditors under the February 20 Eurogroup deal. (1 euro = 1.12 U.S dollars) Enditem