Ireland has so far not used up any of its own €17.5bn in assets contributed, to which the NPRF's contribution belongs. The move had been widely expected, after former finance minister Brian Lenihan directed the reserve fund in February to hold €5.5bn in cash as the first phase of planned de-risking of the NPRF’s €10bn contribution.
In an address to Dáil (the Irish parliament), finance minister Michael Noonan said that tapping the pension scheme would minimise the additional debt service costs to the state because there no interest is charged on NPRF funds. The rest of the capital needed to support the banking system would be met from "existing resources", he said.
The government has targeted the public pension scheme in a bid to avoid drawing down IMF funds. The Irish central bank and the National Management Treasury Agency, which manages the NPRF, claimed subordinated bond holders could contribute €5bn after the European Central Bank vetoed moves to target overseas bondholders.
However, the government has also indicated this month that it sees a "significant role" for the depleted NPRF in funding its National Development Plan. The public pension scheme had previously agreed to fund a €550m water-metering investment programme and to invest 5% of its discretionary portfolio in domestic infrastructure investments.
Full article
© IPE International Publishers Ltd.
Key
Hover over the blue highlighted
text to view the acronym meaning
Hover
over these icons for more information
Comments:
No Comments for this Article