Troika demands sale of state assets raises over €2bn

THE EU/ECB/IMF troika has asked the Irish Government to raise substantially more than €2 billion through the sale of state assets, Taoiseach Enda Kenny admitted last night.

The Taoiseach indicated, however, that the Government was confident it would be allowed to invest whatever money it raised through such sales in growth programmes rather than paying down the national debt.

“The troika are looking for what they say is substantially more than €2bn — €2bn was what was agreed in the Programme for Government,” he said.

The IMF has already indicated it wants the state to sell €5bn worth of state assets — almost the entire semi-state sector.

To date, however, the Government has decided to sell off a minority stake in the ESB and a number of other assets.

Mr Kenny said they would await an evaluation of the rest of the state’s holdings and the impact of their possible sale to be made by the newly-established unit within the National Treasury Management Agency before any further decisions were made.

While the troika believes the proceeds of any asset disposal should go to reduce debt, the Taoiseach said the Government would have a very different view on it.

“It’s very necessary to grow your economy by investment and job creation,” he said, adding that the sale of any asset and how the money would be used would be discussed with the troika.

Mr Kenny said he was confident they would agree to the Government spending the money on growth- generating projects, especially as the changes they allowed to the austerity plan were working out well.

He would not confirm if December’s budget measures would raise €4bn rather than the €3.6bn originally mooted, but said he believed people would be willing to accept that — provided it was fair and across the board.