Noonan soothes investor fears
Mr Noonan hosted an IDA and Enterprise Ireland-organised breakfast meeting with potential investors at the New York Stock Exchange yesterday morning.
He was in New York as part of a four-day trip to the US. He reassured investors that Ireland’s situation differs from that of Greece and maintained the Government’s steadfast commitment to the 12.5% corporate tax rate.
“There’s a situation now emerging where there will be some arrangements for Greek debt because, quite frankly in our view, they can’t make the repayment dates and the amounts that are scheduled for repayment,” Mr Noonan told CNBC after the breakfast meeting.
“But there are a number of options on the table.
“As is usual in Europe, these matters will be resolved. But I would agree with you, and it is our position, we don’t want a credit event that has a contagion effect for Ireland.
“The Greek situation is different — Ireland is totally different from Greece. We have a different type of economy.
“We’re very open, we’re very competitive, we’re very export driven, we don’t have a lot of trade with Greece and we have no banking connections with Greece.
“But Ireland will be watching very closely. We’re totally different from Greece. We have our bank restructuring in place. We have our fiscal programmes in place.
“We’re making a fiscal adjustment of €10 billion this year and next year. We want to see ourselves trading back into the markets.”
With as many as 15 meetings being organised during a hectic visit, Mr Noonan insisted that he would also be seeking feedback from business leaders in the US.
“I want to tell them about the strengths of the economy. And I want their advice as well because sometimes when you’re in Europe, you can’t see the wood for the trees.
“At least when you’re in New York and you look back, you see the wood and you can see the big problem,” he said
“If we talk about one of our strengths, it’s out capacity to attract American investment. The 12.5% corporate tax rate is not negotiable. What we’re being asked to do is to change it for the sake of a lower interest rate. We’d rather a higher interest rate and we’ll continue to pay it if the quid pro quo is any change in our corporate tax rate.”
Mr Noonan travelled on to Washington DC to meet with the acting head of the International Monetary Fund, John Lipsky, to discuss the implementation of the bailout deal.
He was also due to meet with representatives of the World Bank and US treasury secretary Timothy Geithner before a reception at the Irish Embassy last night.
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