Portugal "sold 鈧?.2bn of its debt"?

Hi,


I was reading an article on CNN (http://edition.cnn.com/2011/BUSINESS/01/12/portugal.europe.debt.crisis.ft/index.html?eref=edition) and saw:





"The intensifying European debt crisis appeared to take a step back from the brink on Wednesday when besieged Portugal was able to sell more than 鈧?.2bn in long-term debt at much lower than expected interest rates."





I was just curious: what exactly do they mean when they say Portugal "sold" its long-term debt?|||they mean that Portugal is good.|||Hmm when a country sell it debts it mean the country needed 鈧?.2bn and borrowed it from the markets usually if a country is in high danger of not been able to pay the money back the investor raise the interests and buy less debt however in this case the interest where high but much of the debt was bought.





That of course shows that in reality the markets believe Portugal can pay his debt back (people wouldnt lend money to a country who they know will default) but that instead the interests are been keep high by artificial expeculation.|||In simple terms it means that it got other people to give it money to tide it over its lean period. It still has to pay those bond holders back. It seems that China and Japan both came good on their promises and bought a lot of the bonds issued.