The European Commission has authorised the release of another €3bn of funds to Ireland as part of its bailout programme.
The Commission, after completing its quarterly review of the financial assistance programme for Ireland, said the programme is on track, while challenges still remain.
It said that agreed fiscal targets for last year were met, and the economic data so far this year suggests that the 2011 GDP deficit target of 10.6% is 'within reach'.
It also said that important progress was made in reforming the country's banking system.
In its report, the Commission praised the Government for its commitment to the programme's objectives and the progress made so far.
However, it also pointed out that continued strict programme implementation must be continued, including planned reforms to the country's fiscal framework.
The overall EU financial assistance to Ireland amounts to €45bn over three years - this includes bilateral loans from the UK, Sweden and Denmark.
Higher bailout rate 'not logical'
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development's Secretary General has said it is 'not logical' that Ireland should pay a higher or onerous interest rate for its bailout.
Speaking to RTÉ News on the margins of an economic conference in Brussels, Angel Gurría also rejected the notion of a quid pro quo from Ireland relating to corporate tax in exchange for a lower interest rate.
'In the end countries which are in trouble have to be supported in terms that are consistent with their ability to pay.
'It's not a very great logic for a country applying the (EU-IMF) adjustment programme to be kept at higher or more onerous interest rates. That only makes things worse,' he said.
When asked about the Government's argument that Ireland's corporate tax rate would help the country grow out of the crisis, Mr Gurría said, 'growing out of the crisis is a very important precondition, that is the fastest way to stabilise public finances.'
Earlier, German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble told the Brussels Economic Forum that in relation to the Greek debt crisis 'we can (no longer) throw other people's money at the problem.'
He said that private sector burden sharing in the sovereign debt crisis was essential once the permanent EU rescue mechanism came into effect in 2013.
The IMF and the EC have said that Greece needs to deepen and speed up its economic reforms if the country is to avail of any relaxation of the period in which it has to pay back its public debt.
The sternest IMF warning since a €110bn EU/IMF bailout a year ago pulled the troubled euro zone member back from the brink of bankruptcy was delivered as European officials raised the possibility of a Greek debt restructuring.
‘The view that seems to be taking hold is that the government programme is not working,’ the IMF's chief of mission to Greece, Poul Thomsen, told an economic conference in Athens.
‘The programme will not remain on track without a determined reinvigoration of structural reforms in the coming months. Unless we see this invigoration, I think the programme will run off track,’ he added.
