NTMA to auction €1.5bn bonds

THE National Treasury Management Agency (NTMA) is to press ahead with its 2010 fundraising efforts, by auctioning two more loan bonds of as much as €1.5 billion this month.

The agency – which is in charge of managing the national debt, the national pensions reserve fund and the borrowing funds on behalf of the Government – announced yesterday that it will auction two government bonds next Tuesday and will announce the size of the auction on Friday.

The NTMA – through five of eleven scheduled auctions – has already passed the halfway mark in its race to reach its €20bn funding requirement target for this year, as a whole. Already €13.2bn – or 66% – of that target has been achieved.