by Maria Spiliopoulou

ATHENS, June 6 (Xinhua) -- Greeks auctioned a treasury bill issue on Wednesday, raising a total of 2.4 billion euros (2.8 billion U.S. dollars) from the market, the Greek Public Debt Management Agency (PDMA) said.

The interest rate of the new issue of six-month treasury bills worth 1.63 billion euros was set at 0.85 percent, up from 0.70 percent set in the previous auction in May, according to a PDMA press statement.

In addition, a three-month bond worth 812.5 million euros was sold at 0.70 percent yield up from 0.59 percent last month, PDMA said.

Shut out of international markets since 2010, the debt-laden country runs a monthly treasury bill auction program to cover maturing debts and meet its financing needs, in parallel to the bailout program of international creditors.

Greece is expected to fully return to the markets in 2018 when the current third bailout program ends this August. (1 euro = 1.18 U.S. dollars)