Greece's finance ministry says its first return to bond markets yesterday, after four years, has seen strong demand, receiving offers totaling almost €21 billion from more than 600 investors for a five-year-bond that will have an annual coupon of 4.75%.

The government decided to accept offers worth €3 billion euros, rather than the €2.5 billion initially planned. The Finance Ministry said that about 90% of the offers came from "foreign institutional investors."

In an address to the Greek people on April 10, the Prime Minister Antonis Samaras said that "the international markets expressed their confidence in the Greek economy in the most unambiguous way." The premier emphasized that prior to yesterday’s bond issue by Greece, Greek banks had already managed to tap into funds from the international markets, accelerating the return of liquidity in the Greek economy. The transaction is expected to be settled next week, the finance ministry said in a statement.