National debt increases €93.4bn

IRELAND’s national debt stood at €119.1 billion at the end of 2011 — up from €93.4bn a year earlier.

Figures published yesterday by the NTMA — the body in charge of managing the debt — show that debt service costs, or the cost to the taxpayer of interest and other charges on Government debt, amounted to €5.4bn for 2011. Debt service costs totalled €4.6bn in 2010, €2bn higher than in 2009.

General government debt stood at an estimated 107% of GDP and is set to peak at 119% in 2013.