State seeking to raise €1.25bn through sale of two bonds

The State is seeking to raise up to €1.25 billion through the auction of two treasury bonds on Thursday, the National Treasury Management Agency (NTMA) has announced.

One of the treasury bonds will mature in 2023 with a yield of 0.35 per cent, while the other will mature in 2050 with a yield of 1.5 per cent.

The latest auction will be conducted on the Bloomberg Auction System, and is confined to recognised primary dealers. It will open at 8am and close at 10am.

The agency aims to raise €10 billion-€14 billion in international bond markets in 2022, marking a decline of up to 46 per cent on the amount raised last year as the Government’s Covid-related spending eases.

Joe Canning: Cork have even more questions to answer than Clare

---

We now know which hospitals are overspending and which are delivering. Let’s fund them accordingly

---

Concerns for years in Department of Justice over immigrant investor programme

---

Failings highlighted during Aoife Johnston inquest are an indictment of the health service

---

From a budget surplus in 2019, the Government deficit ballooned to €18.4 billion in 2020 before narrowing in 2021 to about €9 billion.

The total fiscal response to the Covid-19 crisis so far has run into tens of billions, with more than 80 per cent directed at supporting employees, households and businesses as well as increased health and capital spending.