The Government has borrowed €4bn from the bond markets at the lowest price in the history of the State.
The level of market interest could have seen the Government borrow as much as €5.75bn.
The yield – effectively the cost of borrowing – on the bonds is 0.867 pc.
KBC Group, Belgium’s biggest bank by market value, pumped €130m into its Irish unit last month, bringing the bailout bill to about €1.38bn as the lender continues to grapple with losses following the property crash.
KBC Bank Ireland raised the money by selling shares to its immediate parent, KBC Bank NV, in Brussels on December 22, according to documents filed with the Companies Registration Office. The Dublin-based unit received €1.25bn of capital support from its parent between 2008 and 2013, it said.
TUMBLING oil prices have helped drag the Eurozone into deflation for the first time in more than five years, heaping further pressure on the European Central Bank (ECB) to start printing money.
Inflation in the bloc turned negative last month, with consumer prices falling by 0.2pc year-on-year, sparking fears that the region could enter a prolonged period of deflation.
It has also raised expectations that data due to be released here will show inflation also dipping into negative territory on an annual basis.
Senior executives from global US investment firm Blackstone joined the bosses of Irish firms including Smurfit Kappa, Kerry Group and Permanent TSB in New York yesterday as they showcased their businesses to over 80 North American financial institutions.
The Davy Annual Equity Conference also attracted key executives from a number of other Irish firms such as hotel operator Dalata, insulation maker Kingspan, Bank of Ireland, Fyffes and Greencore.
The rate of job creation in the services sector last month rose at its fastest pace in at least 15 years, a survey has found.
The sector here ended the year on a high, with December recording faster increases in both activity and new business, according to the latest Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI).
And reports of improving economic conditions and an increase in work boosted optimism among companies about the prospects for this year.
THE Government is to borrow between €3bn and €4bn on the bond markets today, the Irish Independent understands.
Plans for a bond sale were announced yesterday by the National Treasury Management Agency (NTMA), but the agency did not specify the size of the sale and said only that it would take place “in the near future”.
Bond yields are at historic lows so the sale will result in cheap funding for the Irish taxpayer over the next seven years, according to Cantor Fitzgerald Ireland’s head of fixed income strategy, Ryan McGrath.
The exercise of extensive forbearance by Irish banks on home loan defaults is “likely” to have contributed to the accumulation of arrears in the aftermath of the crash, says an IMF working paper.
While the paper suggests the economic benefit of temporary forbearance and loan modifications for struggling households could outweigh their costs, it says this depends on the circumstances prevailing in the country.
“Extensive forbearance, such as interest-only payments, helped smooth consumption but allowed arrears to build,” the paper says of the situation in Ireland.
The inclusion of one additional pay and pensions day in public expenditure next year for “technical” reasons will cost the exchequer some €300 million, Government documents show.
Revised spending estimates from Minister for Public Expenditure Brendan Howlin also show that Government moves to suspend metered water charges in favour of lower flat fees will necessitate a €85 million increase in public expenditure next year.
The 253-page document – known as “the Rev” in official circles – also sets out a further allocation of €62 million to meet additional spending pressures unrelated to the water scheme.
Mortgage approvals have jumped 42 per cent as first time buyers seek to get on the property ladder ahead of the introduction of new lending restrictions.
A total of 23,796 mortgage approvals have been recorded for the year to the end of November, according to figures compiled by the Banking and Payments Federation Ireland (BPFI).
It said the value of mortgage approvals for the first 11 months of 2014 was €4.2 billion.
The Irish Stock Exchange has announced a new programme for companies planning to go public over the new few years.
The #IPOready initiative, which is supported by Enterprise Ireland and Invest Northern Ireland, provides firms that are on course for an initial public offering (IPO) with a support programme to teach them about investor relations, raising capital and business management.
“Listing on public markets brings enormous benefits for successful companies. Companies that have listed on the ISE raised €23.5 billion between 2004 and 2013. Eight new companies have listed successfully in the past two years. This programme is designed to support more Irish companies to become IPO ready,” said Aileen O’Donoghue, director of strategy at the Irish Stock Exchange.
