The Financial Times is reporting that Greece plans to put the EU solution to the test with a 5 billion euros ($6.7 billion) bond issue next week.

In an interview with the Financial Times, Petros Christodoulou, who heads the public debt management agency, stated that he would like to return to the bond markets next week to begin financing his country's debt. Greece will issue either a three- or seven-year bond, which will be followed by a second issue of similar size in April.

Over the next month, Greece will need to raise 10 billion euros ($13.4 billion) in order to offset maturing debt. For now at least, Greece expects to raise that money in its entirety via the bond market.

There are two factors worth noting as the initial bond offering is rolled out. First, we need to take note of how well the bond market digests the initial offering, knowing that an equally sized issue will follow in the weeks ahead.

Second, we need to take note of the language that Greece will use when attempting to reconcile the issuance of debt at yields exceeding six percent. Greece's contention all along was that it was unacceptable that they should have to offer yields of six percent when Germany was paying closer to three. They have since backed off that language and stuck to the EU's talking points, which center around the idea that the EU resolution was a victory for all involved. However, with an IMF role now on the table, issuing debt at such high rates is laughable when the IMF would nearly halve that rate.

Germany