Govt 'in talks to defer €31bn in Anglo loans'

The Government is reported to be in talks to defer the payment of €31bn in Anglo loans for a decade.

The move would postpone the annual payment of €3.1bn in promissory notes to the European Central Bank, which had been borrowed to finance the wind-down of the former Anglo Irish Bank.

According to reports today, the Government wants to defer paying these back until 2022, which would reduce the country's borrowing requirement by €31bn over that time.

Robbie Kelleher - from Davy Stockbrokers - says this would be good for Ireland:

"That is the hope, that if you can defer it for 10 years we would be in a better state to repay it…

"You will also have a better idea of what the final bill or surplus will be in relation to Anglo Irish Bank because presumably in 10 years time, the vast bulk of the loan book that exists there will have been wound down."