NTMA sells €4bn in bonds at 'historically low' rates

The National Treasury Management Agency (NTMA) has borrowed €4bn at the record low interest rate of 0.867%.

Bids of more than €5.75bn had been received for the available bonds before 11am this morning.

The Government plans to use the bond market to raise cheap funds to replace costly loans, with an interest rate of 5%, issued by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) during the financial crisis.

NTMA Director of Funding and Debt Management Frank O’Connor said: "This syndicated sale of €4 billion of a 7-year benchmark bond at a historically low yield of 0.867% represents a strong start to our 2015 funding plan which targets total bond issuance of €12 to €15 billion."