Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 15 January 2019
208. Deputy Michael McGrath asked the Minister for Finance the amount of Ireland’s sovereign debt that falls due for refinancing for each year from 2019 to 2025; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1110/19]
Amharc ar fhreagra209. Deputy Michael McGrath asked the Minister for Finance the estimated cost for each year from 2019 to 2025 to Ireland of every 1% increase in sovereign borrowing costs; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1111/19]
Amharc ar fhreagraI propose to take Questions Nos. 208 and 209 together.
The National Treasury Management Agency (NTMA) has advised me that at end-2018, the volume of medium/long-term Irish sovereign debt due to mature over the seven year period to end-2025 was just over €73 billion. The annual breakdown is set out in the table below. The maturity profile of Irish Government bonds and EU Programme loans is available on the website of the NTMA at the link pasted below and is updated monthly.
https://www.ntma.ie/business-areas/funding-and-debt-management/statistics/maturity-profile.
|
Year |
Principal Repayments*(€ billions) |
|
2019 |
15.2 |
|
2020 |
19.0 |
|
2021 |
0.5** |
|
2022 |
11.9 |
|
2023 |
7.0** |
|
2024 |
8.1** |
|
2025 |
11.5** |
Source: NTMA
* Reflects Government Bond and EU Programme loan maturities as at end-2018. Figures include the effect of currency hedging transactions.
** Excludes EFSM maturities as these loans are due to be extended following the maturity extensions granted in mid-2013.
The Deputy should be aware that the figures in the table for the years 2021, 2023, 2024 and 2025 exclude maturities of European Financial Stabilisation Mechanism (EFSM) loans of €3 billion, €2 billion, €0.8 billion and €2.4 billion respectively. This is because, owing to the maturity extensions granted in 2013, it is not expected that Ireland will have to refinance any EFSM loans before 2027. In total, over the period from 2019 to 2025, this reduces the refinancing requirement by €8.2bn to €73 billion .
While the vast bulk of Ireland’s National Debt is at fixed rates of interest the cost of refinancing that debt could become more expensive if interest rates were to rise.
However, it should be noted that the debt interest estimates set out in Budget 2019 are based on prudent assumptions and already allow for an increase in rates on Exchequer borrowing over the forecast period.
