Greek exit fear drives Irish bond debt off low

The cost of borrowing for the Irish state has tripled since April, but the Greek crisis is hurting others such as Spain and Portugal much more, a leading analyst has said.

Donal O’Mahony, global strategist at Davy Stockbrokers said the Irish 10-year bond has risen from an all-time record low of 0.60% in April to 1.80% yesterday as markets price in increased risk that Greece will leave the eurozone.

However, the interest rates on the same-dated government bonds in Portugal have soared from 1.55% in April to 3.20%, while Spanish 10-year debt has risen from 1.20% to 2.35% in the same period.