Chapter 258: Strategies for Selling Treasury Bonds

There was silence in the conference room, and everyone was thinking about how to raise funds.

After hearing the feedback from Koledis and others, Constantine thought of a new way to sell government bonds.

In order to determine whether the method was feasible, Constantine confirmed with the heads of the three banks again: "The lowest face value of the government bonds you issued is one thousand drachmas. Why is the face value so large, instead of printing some government bonds with smaller face values? For example, one hundred drachmas, or even smaller"

Constantine did have doubts. You must know that the annual interest rate of the government bonds issued by Greece is as high as 5%, which is much higher than the savings interest rate given by the bank.

Under normal circumstances, such a high investment and financial management product should attract many Greeks.

Therefore, Constantine believes that there should be something wrong with the bank's government bond issuance strategy.

The first point is this minimum face value of one thousand government bonds.

At this time, most Greeks have a monthly income of about two or three hundred drachmas.

To buy a government bond with a face value of one thousand drachmas, this means that many people need to use more than half a year's income to buy a government bond, which is indeed a bit difficult.

Ordinary people would not keep such a large amount of cash, not to mention that the income still needs to cope with daily expenses.

Upon hearing this, Koledis explained: "Your Highness, ordinary people have no concept of financial management. Our bank staff do have this idea. Just like you said, print the face value of the national debt in a smaller number and then sell it to ordinary people."

Spreading his hands helplessly, he smiled bitterly: "But the people don't trust such bonds at all. When they hear that the national debt may default, or when they are in urgent need of money, they can sell the bonds they hold at any time at the Athens Stock Exchange and exchange them for cash, the people shook their heads and regarded our staff as liars."

"Perhaps in their eyes, they regard national debt as something like stocks."

"In this case, we can only sell to those wealthy people who are more knowledgeable about financial products. After all, they have basic investment concepts and at least will not mistake our national debt for stocks."

Since the Athens Stock Exchange in Greece began to operate, stocks, which were originally unfamiliar to most Greeks, have also gained the most basic understanding through newspapers or hearsay.

Most Greeks still have relatively primitive and simple ideas, and do not understand some ways to make money through the stock market.

Some people earn wealth that many people cannot get in their lifetime by buying stocks at low prices in the exchange and then selling them at high prices. In the eyes of many people, this is incomprehensible.

In the simple ideas of most Greeks, these people have not created any material wealth at all. It is incredible that they can make money by reselling a piece of paper (stock).

The unfathomable insider information in stock trading. At this time, there are many management loopholes in the stock exchange, and insider trading is rampant. Many investors who do not know the truth have suffered heavy losses. Such news is often seen in newspapers, which deepens the dislike of most Greeks for stocks.

In the eyes of many Greeks, the stock exchange is a place full of liars, gangsters and thieves (this may really be the case), not a place where decent people should go.

It is not difficult to understand that when the bank staff explained the advantages of national debt, they mentioned that the buyers of national debt who were in urgent need of cashing in could go to the Athens Stock Exchange to sell them. People regarded these bonds as stocks, and these bank staff who promoted national debt naturally became scammers who lured people to buy stocks.

In the eyes of bank professionals, national debt can be sold at any time in the exchange, which is an advantage of national debt, rather than a single cashing method that the government pays the principal and interest after maturity.

After figuring out these problems, Constantine became more confident in the new method, so he reminded everyone: "When I was reading the history books of the American Civil War, I remembered that the books recorded that the governments of the South and the North adopted different ways to deal with the huge war."

"The southern government used the method of printing money to raise funds, while the northern government adopted the method of issuing national debt."

"And the northern government also adopted a special method to achieve better sales results of national debt," Constantine reminded several people.

Constantine's words made the eyes of several people in the room light up.

"Yes, this is indeed an example to follow," said Prime Minister Venizelos in surprise.

During this period, I was unhappy all day long in order to make money, and now I finally made a breakthrough.

Kolodis and the other two looked at each other and nodded. It is indeed possible to succeed by adopting the American method.

"Mr. Prime Minister, this method requires government support. It is impossible to achieve the method mentioned by His Royal Highness the Crown Prince by relying solely on our bank employees," Kolodis said to Venizelos.

"Not only the city government, but also the major newspapers in Greece should be contacted to let them cooperate in public opinion," Constantine said.

Laris and the three managers hurriedly walked out of the meeting room and went to implement the new treasury bond sales plan.

The meeting room was quiet again.

"Your Highness the Crown Prince, if this time's national debt sales can really meet expectations, then the funds for the war with the Bulgarians will be barely available. This is assuming that the scope of the war is only limited to Greece and Bulgaria. The current situation Greece's finances are increasingly dependent on borrowing," Venizelos said worriedly.

"In any case, Greece will no longer be able to withstand a war in a short period of time. The government's tax revenue has seriously overspent, the fiscal deficit has expanded, and the entire country of Greece needs a long period of repair."

Constantine nodded and agreed: "What you said makes sense, Mr. Prime Minister, but there is no need to be so worried. Greece's finances are tight. How can Bulgaria fare better? Maybe Ferdinand is having a headache now. The problem is, Bulgaria was the main force in the last war. Even if Bulgaria now has assistance from Austria-Hungary, what will happen?"

In the Balkan War of 1912, Bulgaria mobilized a huge army of 400,000 people. During the war, the Bulgarian army faced off against the main force of the Ottoman Empire in Thrace.

The armies of Greece and Serbia were only responsible for flank battlefields, and the number of mobilized soldiers was only half that of Bulgaria. The battle in Macedonia was far less bloody and cruel than the battle in Thrace.

Therefore, Greece's financial situation was tight, and according to Constantine's estimation, Bulgaria's financial situation was not much better.