金融英语阅读：Japan enters eurozone debt fray
Japan showed support to its debt-stricken European allies by pledging Tuesday to buy eurozone bonds this month.Japanese Finance Minister Yoshihiko Noda said Tokyo may use its euro reserves to buy about 20 percent of the AAA-rated bonds issued to raise funds to support Ireland, according to Reuters.
The European Union set up the 440 billion euro ($570 billion) EFSF (European Financial Stability Facility) as a safety net in for heavily indebted eurozone nations, but it failed to deter investors from betting on more bailouts.
The Nikkei business daily said Tokyo would buy about 100 billion yen ($1.2 billion) of bonds from around 5 billion euros ($6.47 billion) that the market could offer by the end of this month.
"I think it's appropriate for Japan to purchase a certain amount of bonds to boost confidence in the EFSF and make a contribution as a major country," Noda was quoted by Reuters as saying. "We're thinking about buying more than 20 percent" of the amount of EFSF securities to be issued in the initial round, he added.
Japan's offer follows China's commitment to buy Spanish debt, with analysts saying the move may reflect both Tokyo's concern about the crisis' impact on its export-reliant economy and its effort to reassert the country's global influence, Reuters reported.
Bond markets have been tense as rates on debt issued by countries seen to be most at risk in the eurozone - led by Portugal - jumped sharply Monday ahead of several critical bond sales this week, AFP said Tuesday. Portugal is widely seen as being the next eurozone country to likely need rescuing.
Portuguese Prime Minister JoséSócrates Tuesday denied "rumors" of outside help, insisting that "Portugal has the means to finance itself on the markets."
Carlos Costa, the governor of the Central Bank of Portugal, reiterated late Monday that "the Portuguese are solving their problems and have the ability to solve their problems themselves," according to AFP.
Portuguese Finance Minister Fernando Teixeira dos Santos insisted his country was pulling out all the stops to avoid a humiliating EU-IMF financial rescue and that it was still paying relatively low interest rates.
"We are seeking to avoid this possibility," dos Santos told TSF radio. "We are doing our work. Clearly, Europe is not doing its work to guarantee the stability of the euro."
Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero also addressed business leaders Tuesday that Spain's public deficit in 2011 will "without a doubt" meet its target of 6 percent of annual economic output.
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