DUBLIN: Ireland will seek to raise 1 billion euros in a dual bond auction on Thursday as it moves towards the top end of its issuance target for the year and adds to the stock of debt eligible for the European Central Bank’s bond-buying programme.
Ireland will tap its nine- and 20-year bonds, the country’s debt agency said on Monday. It has already raised 9.5 billion euros of its 9 to 13 billion euros target through the issuance of benchmark bonds and a further 610 million euros via its first ever inflation-linked bond. That has helped replenish the scarce pool of Irish debt eligible for the ECB’s quantitative easing programme. Last week the government announced plans to refinance some of its 2010 IMF bailout loans at cheaper market rates, saying the transaction would further increase the ECB’s purchase capacity.