EU ministers approve Irish plan to pay off bailout loans early

EU Finance ministers have approved plans to repay Ireland’s IMF bailout loans ahead of schedule.

Ireland now stands to save €1.5bn over the next five years after Ecofin ministers made the agreement in Milan this afternoon.

Minister for Finance Michael Noonan has said he is hopeful that the NTMA will be in a position to refinance the first part of our IMF loans by the end of this year.

Noonan added: "I am delighted to be able to announce today that we have now cleared all the political hurdles required to support our plan to replace portions of our IMF loans with cheaper market funding. Following discussions with the leaders of various institutions earlier in the week, there were three important hurdles to clear this weekend; support from Eurogroup Ministers, Ecofin Ministers and our bilateral lenders the United Kingdom, Sweden and Denmark.

“Officials will now progress this political agreement and I would be hopeful that the NTMA will be in a position to refinance the first tranche of our IMF loans by the end of this year. This is a significant agreement which has the potential to yield interest savings of over €1.5bn over the five year period.

“This is a further piece of the jigsaw of improving our debt sustainability and will have real and positive impact for the Irish taxpayer," closed the Minister for Finance.