Government will repay €15bn in total this year and has cash and liquid assets of €29bn
National Treasury Management Agency headquarters in Dublin
Ireland repaid an €11.5bn bond on Friday as it fell due in a move that cuts the national debt but will also run down some of the huge cash surplus sitting in state coffers.
The unusually large bond deal is the most substantial element of the national debt falling due this year. Other debt falling due this year included a €1.3bn ‘SURE loan’ – a type of low-cost EU emergency funding issued during the pandemic – that matured in February. A €2bn debt dating all the way back to the bailout owed to the European Financial Stabilisation Mechanism (EFSM) will be repaid later this year.