NTMA’s bond sales top €10bn so far this year

The National Treasury Management Agency auctioned €750 million of bonds on Thursday, bringing the total amount of long-term debt issued so far this year to €10.1 billion.

The State's debt office sold €500 million of bonds due to be repaid in 2022 at an average yield, or market interest rate, of minus 0.009 per cent, meaning buyers of the notes are paying the Government to hold their money as negative interest rates persist across euro-area debt amid ongoing stimulus from the European Central Bank.

The NTMA also sold €250 million of bonds that mature in 2045 at a yield of almost 1.953 per cent.

The bond sales will add to the NTMA's existing €21.6 billion cash pile at the end of June, including almost €3.4 billion of proceeds from the Government's sale of a 28.8 per cent stake in AIB last month. While the Department of Finance forecasts that the State will return to a balanced budget next year for the first time since the onset of the financial crisis, Central Bank data published this week shows that €40.3 billion of Government bonds are due to mature within the next three years.

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The yields on Irish and other euro-zone government bonds have increased in recent weeks amid mounting speculation about when the ECB will begin to wind down its €2.3 trillion bond-buying programme, known as quantitative easing, which is designed to boost inflation and growth.