Ireland has raised €6 billion on international markets from its latest issue of bonds.
The National Treasury Management Agency raised €6 billion in a 10-year syndicated bond issue. A syndicated bond issue means a group of banks agree to buy the bonds before selling them on to other investors.
The NTMA said Irish investors accounted for more than 20% of the buyers.
The move means Ireland has now raised more than €20 billion of the €25 billion it plans to borrow this year to finance a Budget deficit forecast to exceed 10% of gross domestic product.
NTMA chief executive Dr Michael Somers said the success of the bond issue was 'a clear signal of the confidence investors have in the Irish Government bond market'.
The new bond was a 5.9% Treasury Bond which matures on October 18 2019. The yield was 5.932%. Yields on Irish bonds have been moving well ahead of benchmark German bonds this year, making the cost of borrowing more expensive.
Ireland's debt to gross domestic product ratio is set to jump to 59% this year, still low by European standards, from 43% in 2008. But it is likely to rise further once the Government issues bonds to Irish banks as part of its creation of the National Asset Management Agency to cleanse the sector of risky property loans.
