When a country buys its own debt

Portugal spent €1.5 billion on its own treasury bonds last month, writes i. The Lisbon daily explains this was to “promote secondary market liquidity”, through a special fund which clears public debt using money from privatisations. In the current year, €1.1 billion in public debts were sold to China, with a higher-than-market interest rate. “When trying to win over new clients, one offers better conditions”, a market analyst told i anonymously. Portugal’s public debt in 2010 totalled €151.7 billion, excluding the debt of local councils, the governments of Madeira and Azores and other state agencies.