NTMA completes further €5.5 billion early repayment of EU/IMF Programme loans

20 December 2017 - The National Treasury Management Agency (NTMA) has completed the early repayment of the full outstanding IMF loan facility and the bilateral loans from Sweden and Denmark.

The repayment of approximately €4.5 billion discharges all of the remaining IMF principal loan obligations that were originally to fall due from January 2021 to December 2023.

The repayment of €1 billion bilateral loans from Sweden (€0.6 billion) and Denmark (€0.4 billion) discharges loan obligations that were originally to fall due from September 2019 to May 2021.

Notes for Editors

  • IMF loans are denominated in Special Drawing Rights (SDRs), an international reserve asset created by the IMF. Its value is based on a basket of five international currencies - the US dollar, the euro, the Chinese renminbi (RMB), the Japanese yen, and the British pound sterling.
  • As part of the EU-IMF Programme of Financial Support entered into in late 2010, Ireland borrowed SDR 19.5 billion (approximately €22.5 billion) from the IMF.
  • The NTMA repaid early SDR 15.7 billion (just over €18 billion) in the period December 2014 to March 2015. With these further early repayments of SDR 3.8 billion (c. €4.5 billion), the IMF loan facility has been fully repaid ahead of schedule.
  • This repayment of the full outstanding IMF loan facility along with the Swedish and Danish bilateral loans will further reduce the Exchequer debt service bill by an estimated €150 million over the remaining life of the loans. It also provides liquidity benefits and increases the ECB's purchase capacity for Irish government bonds in its quantitative easing programme.
  • With the IMF, Swedish and Danish loans now fully repaid, the remaining Programme related debt is as follows:
    • European Financial Stabilisation Mechanism (EFSM): €22.5 billion
    • European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF): €18.4 billion
  • UK bilateral loan: £3.2 billion (c. €4 billion)
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