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Ireland raises 11 bln euros in bond markets by midyear

Xinhua, July 23, 2015 Adjust font size:

Ireland said on Thursday it had raised 11 billion euros in the bond markets by midyear 2015.

The National Treasury Management Agency (NTMA), which manages the country's debt, on Thursday issued its 2014 annual report and 2015 midyear update.

The NTMA said this represents almost three quarters of the upper end of its full-year funding target of 12-15 billion euros.

This includes Ireland's first ever 30-year bond in February 2015 in an amount of 4 billion euros at a yield of 2.1 percent, it said.

"The first half of the year saw two developments that are particularly positive for Ireland's debt dynamics -- the issue of our first ever 30-year bond and the completion of the early repayment of just over 18 billion euros of Ireland's IMF loan facility using cheaper, long-term market funding and generating interest savings in excess of 1.5 billion euros over the original lifetime of the IMF loans," NTMA Chief Executive Conor O'Kelly said, when commenting on the first six months of 2015.

"The weighted average maturity of our long-term marketable and official debt has improved from 7.3 years at end 2012 to approximately 13 years now," he said.

Meanwhile, Finance Minister Michael Noonan said Ireland's national debt was falling "rapidly", adding that by the end of this year Ireland's debt would reach 105 percent of gross domestic product (GDP).

Official figures showed Ireland's debt stood at 203 billion euros in 2014, down from 215 billion euros or 123 percent of GDP the previous year. Enditem