Spain had to offer higher returns today to sell nearly €3 billion in bonds as investors worried about sovereign debt burdens in the euro zone.
Demand outstripped supply by more than two to one, but only in return for rates of return of well over 4% even for bonds expiring in just three years.
Finance Minister Elena Salgado has said the risk premium Spain pays on the debt markets is not justified by its economic performance.
Despite the higher interest rates Spain had to pay to borrow on the markets, Salgado said the country had no difficulty financing itself.
In the latest bond auction, Spain raised just under €3 billion in three-year and five-year bonds.
A total of €1.5 billion in three-year bonds were sold at 4.291%, compared with 2.839% at the last comparable auction January 14.
Another €1.497 billion in five-year bonds went at 4.871%, compared with 4.549% at the previous comparable auction on May 5.
