Bond auction helps ‘rebuild trust and reputation’

The Taoiseach Enda Kenny said that yesterday’s successful auction of €500m in treasury bills by the NTMA was “all part of a process of rebuilding reputation, of rebuilding trust and of demonstrating that as a Government and as a people, this country recognises that it faces challenges itself.”

Yesterday’s auction for the €500m in treasury bills was three times oversubscribed with total bids of €1.5bn. The yield was an extremely favourable 0.70%.

The NTMA dipped its toe back in the market at the beginning of July with a €500m sale of treasury bills followed by two longer-term bond issues over July and August, which greatly alleviated the Government’s debt repayment obligations in 2014.