asked the Minister for Finance whether his Department have come to an agreement with the ESB as to the dates on which the accelerated repayments of capital by them to the Exchequer will occur; whether the ESB are to finance the repayments by way of a public stock issue; and whether any other semi-State bodies have been asked to refinance public borrowings in this way.
Written Answers. - ESB Repayments.
40.
As I indicated in my Budget Statement, the ESB have agreed to repay to the Exchequer in 1988 a total of £29.33 million in advances made in earlier decades in respect of miscellaneous capital purposes. This sum is in addition to the annual scheduled payment of £2.05 million. The ESB have also agreed with my Department that the repayments will be made in instalments; one in the first quarter of the year, and others later in the year on dates which have yet to be finalised.
The method or methods by which the ESB will refinance these repayments is a matter for the ESB itself in the first instance. Neither the ESB nor any other body has been asked to refinance repayments to the Exchequer in any particular way. Proposals for the refinancing of repayments, to the extent that they involve new borrowing by the bodies concerned, will ultimately require my approval.