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THE HEAD OF the National Treasury Management Agency has revealed that Ireland will take the first steps to emerging from the EU-IMF funding programme later this year – by holding its first auctions on the bond markets for almost two years.
John Corrigan has said that Ireland will make a “phased re-entry” to the bond markets, beginning with the auction of some bonds later this year ahead of a full return to the markets at some point in 2013.
Speaking on RTÉ’s News at One, Corrigan declined to give precise details of how much money Ireland hoped to raise through any auctions, but noted that it would be in the “billions rather than millions”.
That indicates that the experimental auctions may include the sale of some ‘long-term’ debt – such as 10-year bonds, which are considered a benchmark – as well as the more typical short-term loans of three or six months.
He also declined to estimate what interest rates Ireland could be asked to pay for its loans – but remarked that six months was a “relatively long time” in capital markets, noting that Ireland borrowed 10-year bonds at 5.5 per cent just months before being forced into a bailout.
Corrigan commented that Ireland’s ability to raise funds independently of the EU and IMF depended both on the resolution of the greater problems within the Eurozone, and the progress Ireland made under the Troika plan.
By the time any auctions were set to begin, in the second half of 2012, Corrigan expected “some traction in the resolution of the Eurozone problem”.
Corrigan was speaking after the release of the NTMA’s Business Review for 2011, which revealed that Ireland had spent €5.4 billion ‘servicing’ – paying interest on – its debts last year.
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I plan, to win the lotto this year too. If the NTMA can, live in fantasy land then so can I.
Just too mention there will be a flying green pig in the south east of the skys tonight , while were on the subject of fantasy ..
Great to see some Irish positivity fellas. Sure why would outsiders want to invent in this great country if we don’t have any faith in ourselves.
hats off to any investors who are willing to take the gamble. I just cant see how this whole thing is sustainable, whether the money comes from bailouts or bondholders its just debt on top of debt.
Granted, many countries have huge debt, but combine this with slow growth, high unemployment, trembling currency. If we just took bigger initial pain ,and restructured our debt over the space of 50 years or something, and partially defaulted , at least then people might actually start spending again.
This government has to keep borrowing to maintain the Croke Oark agreement. Why? Let’s start again as the climate has changed. Let’s benchmark all in the Croke Park deal including politicians with not germ Ireland and the UK. Then subtract 15% to allow for dept repayment. Our next generations deserve better from this government. Start cutting and living within our means – going back to markets means a repeat of the same again.
Why should public sector workers take another paycut?! I have lost 30% of my salary over the last 3 years. I completely agree that there are many civil servants who are on ridiculously high pay but what about the nurses, gardai, firemen etc who provide essential services but were never on high salaries? We are really struggling as it is. Don’t tar us all with the same brush. Please.
Good luck with that .
More downgrades on its way. France will not longer be AAA tonight .
And with the Greeks heading for the beach it could be a while before our return to the markets. The most interesting thing the boss man from NTMA said that if they were they would not comment on Market sensitive info hardly and out and out denial
Sure by the time this comes along all the conditions will be permanent, if they want favorable interest rates then they need to opt-out of the euro. Funny how they can identify the problem but because they’ve vested interests they can’t get out ha. Only ever covering them and their buddies.
This would be a very positive step forward were we able to self finance. However market sentiment means a lot in these situations and it remains to be seen how things pan out in Europe but hopefully we can get out of the Troika programme sooner rather than later.
If i keep getting into more and more debt what happens?
Also how do I convince people to give me loans when they know I’m already crippled with debt?
Did you ever hear so much shite in your life lol!!!!
They have about the same chance of returning to the markets as I do of getting a sub on my wages from Merkel
The guardian is reporting we are to be downgraded two notches – hard to see us being able to borrow again
Ha ha ha
Let us know how that works out Ireland
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UniBond Market
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That’s a really bleak looking flag in your photo…
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