NTMA hails turnaround in State’s credit reputation

The chief of the National Treasury Management Agency (NTMA) has hailed a turnaround in the fortunes of the State’s creditworthiness.

Conor O’Kelly said Irish bond yields had weathered the recent crisis over Greece and that the State was now, in the eyes of international debt markets, moving toward being considered a core-European country in respect of its creditworthiness.

Speaking with Finance Minister Michael Noonan at a media event marking a review of the agency, Mr O’Kelly said the NTMA had already raised the bulk of the State’s funding needs this year, and had raised or refinanced debt from markets “at double the maturity of last year and at half the yield”. He said improvement in markets had been assisted by the ECB-driven quantitative easing programme.