THE GOVERNMENT raised €2.1 billion in a sale of treasury bills yesterday organised by the National Treasury Management Agency (NTMA). Its chief executive, Michael Somers, said he was “very pleased” at the level of demand from investors.

Treasury bills are short-term debt instruments used by central banks to raise cash reserves relatively quickly. The NTMA, which manages the Government’s debt, has sold €9.2 billion worth of treasury bills since their launch two months ago. It has set a target of raising €10 billion through this mechanism this year. It is planning another auction of treasury bills for June 11th.

“The demand for one year bills was particularly good, and we intend to build on this demand in future auctions,” said Mr Somers.