NTMA to raise up to €10bn in funding in 2016
The National Treasury Management Agency has announced its plans to issue between €6 and €10 billion of long-term Government bonds over the course of 2016.
The NTMA is already funded for 2016, having raised €13 billion this year out of its guided range of €12-15 billion.
Much of this borrowing was funded at record low interest rates due to the recovering economy and the European Central Bank’s quantitative easing programme.
The smaller target for 2016 is due to fewer bond redemptions and a lower Government budget deficit to fill.
In a statement today, the NTMA said it will issue a statement at the beginning of each quarter outlining the auction plans for that quarter. It also said it intends to hold at least one syndicated bond deal during the year.
The NTMA said it will continue to issue Treasury Bills next year and further details will be contained in its quarterly announcements.Meanwhile, the debt agency yesterday bought €500m of Government bonds from the Central Bank and cancelled them.
This brings to €2 billion the total cancelled this year relating to a deal to ease the country’s debt burden.
As part of a 2013 deal struck with the European Central Bank to stretch out the cost of liquidating the collapsed Anglo Irish Bank, the NTMA said it would slowly feed new bonds worth €25 billion into the market via the Central Bank.
Last year, the Central Bank sold the minimum €500m of bonds acquired during the financial crisis but, under pressure from the ECB, it has now disposed of €2 billion this year.
The Central Bank is obliged to sell at least €500m a year until 2018.
