By Reuters Staff
1 Min Read
VIENNA, May 31 (Reuters) - Austria’s debt issuance for 2021 will surpass last year’s record as it will have to sell more bonds to cover the larger-than-expected budget deficit due to coronavirus lockdowns, its treasury said on Monday.
In an update to its annual funding outlook, the Federal Financing Agency (OBFA), which refers to itself in English as the Austrian Treasury, increased its forecast for total issuance across all instruments to 65 billion-70 billion euros from the roughly 65 billion euros ($79 billion) announced in December.
“(Last year) it came out at 63 billion. This year we will definitely be above that. And now we have to see how things develop,” OBFA’s co-chief Markus Stix said in a telephone interview. The government has already said this year’s budget deficit will grow to around 8.4% of gross domestic product. ($1 = 0.8203 euros) (Reporting by Francois Murphy; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne)
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