Deal sought to refinance €15bn of our IMF loans

The Government will look to secure agreement over the next few months to refinance €15bn of IMF loans, according to Finance Minister Michael Noonan.

There is a total of €22bn of IMF loans. According to Mr Noonan, speaking at the launch of the NTMA 2013 annual report, about €18bn of this has an interest rate of just under 5%.

Yields on Irish sovereign debt have dropped to record lows over the past few months, which means that if the Government was able to refinance the IMF loans through borrowing at current rates, then it could create an opportunity to make the overall debt more sustainable, said the minister.