Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 8 July 2014
202. Deputy Kevin Humphreys asked the Minister for Finance the cost of servicing the national debt as projected in budget 2014; the outturn for the year to date; the savings that have been made; where have they arisen; the total projected saving on the budgeted amount of debt interest for 2014; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29636/14]
View answerBudget 2014 projected the total cash cost of servicing the National Debt in 2014 at €8,926 million. The bulk of debt servicing costs is made up of National Debt interest. The Budget 2014 estimate of National Debt interest in 2014 was €8,154 million. The other items comprising debt servicing are sinking funds and debt management expenses. These were estimated in Budget 2014 at €633 million and €139 million respectively.
The end-June 2014 Exchequer Returns published last week reported National debt interest expenditure at €4,297 million in the first six months of the year, some €346 million or 7.5% below the Budget 2014 consistent profile. This is largely due to the €4.1 billion bond buy back in December 2013, which resulted in lower interest payments in January 2014, lower than expected costs from bond issuance so far this year and a more benign interest rate environment generally, including with respect to the interest rate reset on the floating rate bonds, reflected in the June payment.
Sinking Funds and debt management expenses were €600 million and €48 million respectively in the first six months of the year. National Debt service costs for the year are likely to be below the original Budget 2014 estimate. This was reflected in the April 2014 Stability Programme Update which projected total National Debt service costs interest, sinking funds and debt management expenses combined at €8,514 million in 2014, some €412 million below the Budget 2014 estimate. The next published estimate of National Debt service costs in 2014 will be in the context of Budget 2015 in October.
