The National Treasury Management Agency (NTMA) said on Monday that it will raise €750 million through an auction of treasury bills
The short-term bills will mature on October 25th, 2021 and the auction will be held on April 15th, with a settlement date of April 19th.
The NTMA expects to raise up to € 20 billion in the bond markets this year to cover a budget gap caused by the Government’s response to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic and potential fallout from Brexit.
It is continuing to raise these funds at a low cost. Last month it sold €750 million in treasury bills at a yield of -0.58 per cent, one of the lowest rates of return ever offered on Irish government debt. It means creditors are paying the Government here to lend to it.
Despite the negative return, the NTMA said the auction was 2.5 times oversubscribed.
The State’s debt managing agency raised a large chunk of its 2021 funding needs – some € 5.5 billion – in a 10-year bond sale in January, followed by a subsequent €1.5 billion benchmark bond issue in March.
The NTMA will hold its next bond auction on May 13th.
