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BRITAIN’S CHANCELLOR of the Exchequer, George Osborne, has announced that he will follow the lead of yesterday’s Eurozone summit by cutting the interest rate being charged on Ireland’s bailout loans.
In a statement this evening, Osborne said he welcomed yesterday’s decision to cut the interest rate on Ireland’s EFSF loans by around 2 per cent – which in turn allows the UK to reduce its own interest rate for its bilateral segment.
“I’ve been arguing for some time that the interest rates charged for Eurozone loans were too high,” Reuters quoted his statement as saying.
“I’m pleased, therefore, that they have now reduced those rates. That enables Britain to cut its rate on its loan to Ireland, whilst ensuring all of the benefit goes to Ireland and not to higher interest rates paid to euro area governments.”
The new interest rate charged on Britain’s loans will be slightly lower than the new lower rate being charged on loans from the EFSF, which is contributing €17.5bn to Ireland’s bailout.
The move was welcomed by Ireland’s finance minister Michael Noonan, who said the support “reflects the important economic relationship between Ireland and the UK.
“The willingness of the UK to assist Ireland reflects how both countries gain through sustainable economic growth that creates long term jobs,” Noonan said, thanking Osborne for his support in securing a lower interest rate at European level.
“At a personal level, I would also like to thank the Chancellor for the significant support that he offered me on this topic during meetings in Brussels.”
The reduction in the deal will almost totally wipe out the profit that Britain makes on the loans. London previously charged a margin of 2.29 per cent above its own borrowing costs.
Ireland has yet to draw down any of the funds provided by Britain under the bilateral arrangement, meaning that the reduced interest rate will apply to the entirety of the approximately €7bn in loans being offered.
Discussions with Denmark and Sweden on the interest rates and conditions for their bilateral loans are still ongoing. The three countries are contributing to the EFSM portion of Ireland’s bailout.
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Fair play, we know who our real friends are, no fuss or jumping through hoops.
They sure are and more friends than the rest of Europe!
Fair play to George osborne, the queen must have had a word in his ear!
That’ll cover queenies digs quite nicely.
In all seriousness though it’s a fantastic gesture from the UK.
Cheers Britain!
But no, you’re still not forgiven.. :)
Dickhead!
Stupidity squared!
It was a joke. Calm down
AAAND it was a funny joke :)
Fair play I say.
i find the language some what perplexing, Osborne says that the EFSF’s lowering of the rate “allows” Britain to also lower their rate, why could they not have done so before hand ? were they in turn borrowing the money from the EFSF or some other body that was charging them a higher rate ?
the article then goes on to say that it will in effect wipe out any profit they were making with the 2.29% margin, which would imply it was within their remit to lower the rate regardless of the EFSF’s actions…..
Conor – My guess is that Britain would be seen as undermining the whole European process if it was to offer loans at a rate that was significantly lower than the main bulk of the EU loans. If it had, we’d be borrowing from Britain and taking whatever they had to give us, before we went onto the EU and IMF. That would have led to a situation where Ireland was being bound by the terms of an EU-IMF memorandum of association, without ever taking their loans. It would have been more hassle than it was worth.
Soooo….after years of (understandably) trying to distance ourselves from the Brits, and cosy up to the French, in an effort to be less colonial and more European, we now see how differently those 2 countries view Ireland!
Funny how, when it’s the UK (the only country to actually help us out on an individual basis) that is involved, the anti British brigade come out from under their black bandannas to have a go! Grow up, we need all the help we can get!
Indeed.
Has anyone ever noticed how Mr Osborne usually sits with his mouth open during PMQs. I acknowledge parliament is in recess now but YouTube should provide confirmation if in doubt. Also he has a deep loathing for Labour MP Dennis ‘The Beast of Bolsover’ Skinner.
Does no one realise that this is no loving gesture, theyre still making a profit out of irelands misery and falsely implying that this is for our benefit, its not if ireland defaults, british banks would be in freefall and their economy would take a SERIOUS hit
I think fer every county Britain stole from us, one billion should be wiped off the bill that we owe, plus one billion in interest for invading us. So, in conclusion, how much do we now owe???
And if you count up all the money they owe us in reparations for the 800 years of pillage, rape, and torture you’d come up to a nice figure. In 1918 Germany had to pay $785 billion for the four year long First World War… So how much does that work out as for us? (785/4)x800= $157,000 billion and then we haven’t even included interest. Somebody write a letter to the David Cameron quickshtyle
omg… Your history lessons are SOOO BORING! There’s one thing listening to them on the phone… then it gets progressively worse in person, but online WITH A MATHS EQUATION, damn… why do you even waste your time?!
btw Patrick,
I still gave you a sympathy thumbs up even though “YoU’Re a DrY ShITe!”
teh?
Good on ya UK – our new best friends!
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