Debt refinancing looms large for Ireland and other eurozone countries

In the recent press briefing for the National Treasury Management Agency’s (NTMA) 2014 Annual Report, its chief executive Conor O’Kelly highlighted the difficult task facing Ireland in the next few years as a significant level of debt needs to be re-financed.

Between 2016 and 2020 almost €60 billion of bonds have to be paid back, so there is a need to come up with attractive switching terms into longer-term debt or new funding options to keep investors happy and ease the burden on the sovereign.

In the current benign market environment, raising new debt is not a major problem, but markets are fickle, and things can change very quickly. We don’t know what the global backdrop will be like in two years time.