Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 22 September 2015
368. Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Minister for Finance if he will provide as much information as is available on the sources-creditors-holders of the national debt, including the nationality of the holders of Government bonds and other forms of debt and whether the debt is owed to public-private institutions. [31633/15]
View answerThe table below sets out that Gross National Debt stood at €201.25 billion at end-August 2015, the largest components being Government bonds and loans under the EU/IMF Programme. Together, these categories of debt accounted for €173.55 billion or 86% of Gross National Debt.
A further €16.62 billion or 8% of the Gross National Debt was in the form of State Savings products such as Savings Certificates, Savings Bonds, National Solidarity Bonds and Prize Bonds.
With regard to the ownership of Government bonds, while the Central Bank of Ireland is the registrar for Irish Government bonds, the manner in which they are settled and registered does not allow for the identification of individual holders. However, the Central Bank publishes some information on holders of Irish Government bonds, disaggregated between resident and non-resident holders. The most recent estimates suggest that non-resident investors held 59 per cent (or €73.3 billion) of long-term Irish Government bonds in July 2015. Irish-resident credit institutions accounted for 93 per cent (or €47.4 billion) of all resident holdings.
Furthermore, the European Central Bank (ECB) announced in February 2015 that it held €9.7 billion nominal of Irish Government bonds under its Securities Markets Programme (SMP) at end-2014.
Ireland's creditors under the EU/IMF Programme are listed in the table below.
|
National Debt at End-August 2015
|
€bn |
|
Government Bonds |
123.88 |
|
EU/IMF Programme
|
49.67 |
|
- International Monetary Fund (IMF) - European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) * - European Financial Stabilisation Mechanism (EFSM) - UK Bilateral Loan - Danish Bilateral Loan - Swedish Bilateral Loan
|
4.34 17.88 22.50 3.94 0.40 0.60 |
|
Other Medium and Long Term Debt including European Investment Bank/Council of Europe Development Bank loans |
1.07 |
|
State Savings Schemes** |
16.62 |
|
Short-Term Debt including Treasury Bills, Exchequer Notes and Commercial Paper |
10.02 |
|
Gross National Debt |
201.25 |
|
Cash and other Financial Assets*** |
-17.22 |
|
National Debt |
184.03 |
Notes:
Source: NTMA
Rounding can affect totals.
Figures are unaudited and take account of the effect of currency hedging transactions.
* A prepaid margin of €0.53 billion was deducted from the EFSF loan of €4.19 billion drawn down on 1 February 2011 giving a net liability of €3.66 billion. The total net liability of €17.88 billion included in the National Debt at end August 2015 takes account of this reduction.
** State Savings Schemes also include moneys invested by depositors in the Post Office Savings Bank (POSB). These funds are mainly lent to the Exchequer as short-term advances and through the purchase of Irish Government Bonds. Taking into account the POSB, total State Savings outstanding were €19.3 billion at end August 2015.
*** Of which, Exchequer cash balances and other short-term investments accounted for €14.4 billion at end August 2015.
