DUBLIN -- Ireland's treasury says it will auction debt securities this week for the first time in nearly two years in a test to see whether the bailed-out country can resume normal borrowing on bond markets next year.
Treasury chief executive John Corrigan says Thursday's planned sale of (EURO)500 million ($630 million) in three-month notes "marks an important first step in our phased re-entry to the capital markets."
Ireland stopped auctioning bonds in September 2010 after its cost of borrowing rose above 5 per cent. The nation, crippled by the runaway costs of a bank-bailout program, was forced two months later to negotiate its own loan agreement with European and IMF chiefs. That (EURO)67.5 billion ($85 billion) rescue fund is due to run dry by the end of 2013.
