Honohan fears higher bank losses after review

GOVERNOR of the Central Bank Patrick Honohan has suggested that loan losses at the Irish banks could well be higher after the second capital review from the Central Bank, which is due in March.

Professor Honohan told Reuters yesterday that this would probably be the case given the weaker economic statistics since the last review of the institutions was undertaken last March.

Meanwhile, the rate of interest at which Ireland will pay back the €22.5bn tranche — of the overall EU/IMF bailout — which is coming directly from the European Financial Stability Mechanism (EFSM) will be well above the 5.7% originally estimated by the National Treasury Management Agency (NTMA), another economist told a Dáil Committee yesterday.