NTMA head: €7.5bn 'haircut' savings available to Exchequer

The head of the National Treasury Management Agency (NTMA) has said around €7.5bn has been saved by imposing losses on junior bondholders in Irish banks, and that the funds can now be re-diverted towards helping to run the country until 2013.

Speaking before the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform this morning, NTMA head John Corrigan said that stress tests carried out by the Central Bank in March 2011 had quantified the additional capital support required by the banking sector at €24bn.