Government Collects 3 Billion Euro

The Dutch government has retrieved on Monday 3 billion euro with the reopening of short-term loans. The interest was thereby, also for the shortest loan, higher than 0 percent. Netherlands borrowed 1.88 billion for 3.5 months, against 0.01 percent interest. In the previous auction the yield on these loans came out at exactly 0 percent. The auctions before that gave even a negative interest rate. That means that investors have to add money instead of earning interest. In addition the state borrowed 1.13 billion for a period of 6.5 months. The average rate stood at 0.05 percent, coming up from 0.02 percent at the previous auction early this month. The interest rates on existing 10-year-old Dutch bonds climbed to 2.3 percent Monday. That's the highest level since the end of April last year. Investors reacted to a gloomy report from Moody's on the Dutch economy. The rating agency said Monday, however, that any impairment of the Dutch AAA status will take 3 to 4 years The interest rates on other, deemed safe, European bonds went up on Monday. The interest on German 10-year bonds rose to the highest level since March last year (1.9 percent). This increase is according to bond experts in accordance with the growing expectation that the U.S. central bank stimulus is winding down soon. The long term U.S. rate has now risen to the highest level (2.9 percent) since November 2011.