NTMA to borrow less in 2020 than in 2019
09 Dec 2019)
The National Treasury Management Agency (NTMA) plans to issue €10 billion to €14 billion of bonds over the course of 2020. This represents a reduction from the 2019 funding range of €14 billion to €18 billion.
The reduced funding requirement for 2020 is a consequence of the NTMA’s strategy of pre-funding in advance of major bond redemptions. The NTMA will redeem almost €20 billion of debt during 2020, which includes single redemptions of maturing bonds of €10.6 billion in April 2020 and €6.5 billion in October 2020.
The NTMA will issue a statement at the beginning of each calendar quarter outlining the bond auction plans for that quarter. It also intends to hold at least one syndicated bond deal during the year.
The NTMA will continue to issue Treasury Bills during 2020 and further details will be contained in the quarterly announcements.
NTMA Director of Funding and Debt Management Frank O’Connor said:
“The NTMA’s pre-funding strategy has given us significant flexibility entering 2020. Our opening cash balance is projected to be in excess of €15 billion, which means that despite facing redemptions totalling almost €20 billion, our funding requirement is lower than in previous years.
2020 marks the last year in which redemptions of significant scale – the debt chimneys that we have faced - fall due. Post 2020, our annual debt redemptions will be lower. This follows our programme of extending the average maturity of Irish government bonds, which has increased to close to 10 years and is now one of the longest average maturities in Europe.”