Italy is seeking to raise nearly €8 billion in a bond sale, Bloomberg reports. The first tranche of €3.75 billion is due to mature in 2021.

The country is marketing €4.25 billion of notes maturing in 2014 and 2018. Italy had €1.6 trillion of debt at the end of 2010. The European Central Bank may have to purchase as much as 5% of outstanding debt in about 30 weeks to keep borrowing costs at 5%.

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