The National Asset Management Agency (Nama) has transferred an additional €250 million to the exchequer, the fourth payment from its expected surplus.
Total cash transfers to date now stand at €2.75 billion. The agency said it plans another payment of €250 million by the end of 2021, with further transfers of €1.25 billion expected in coming years. The agency cautioned that the surplus payments depended on market conditions.
“Today’s payment represents just one of a number of cash transfers Nama continues to make from its lifetime surplus,” chief executive Brendan McDonagh said. “We expect to have transferred €3.4 billion in cash by the end of this year and will make further payments totalling €1.25 billion over the coming years. These payments represent a valuable contribution to the State and are enabled by our strong cash position and continued profitability.”
The State agency transferred €2 billion in 2020.
Exchequer contribution
Combining the €4.25 billion surplus with the €400 million tax on profits that it has paid since 2016, the agency expects to have contributed a total of €4.65 billion to the exchequer by the time it is wound up.
Set up by the State as a policy response to the 2008 financial crash, Nama bought property loans for €31.8 billion from the domestic Irish banks in 2010 and 2011 in a bid to save the lenders from insolvency following the crash. It had repaid the €32.7 billion borrowed to fund the loan purchases by the end of March last year.
