€1.5bn Government bond issue successful
The cost of borrowing money to fund the running of the State has fallen slightly over the past month.
The National Treasury Management Agency has this morning sold €1.5bn worth of five and 10-year Irish Government debt.
The yield or interest rate on 10-year loans is now just less than 5.4% compared to 5.5% in July.
That is 3% higher than investors are demanding to lend money to Germany, the Eurozone's largest and strongest economy.
The NTMA expressed its satisfaction at the outcome of today’s auction.
Anthony Linehan, deputy director, funding & debt management, said: "Today’s auction showed that investor appetite for Irish Government bonds has remained strong despite the market volatility of recent weeks.
"The decline in German yields to their lowest level in decades has contributed to the widening of the spread of Irish bonds over their German counterparts but it is significant that the absolute yield achieved today on the benchmark 10-year bond was lower than at last month’s auction.”
Today’s auction brings the total funds raised from the bond market in 2010 to €18.3bn. Allowing for cash balances, retail debt and the long-term funding carried over from last year, the Exchequer is fully funded into the second quarter of 2011.
The next bond auction is scheduled for September 21, 2010.
