THE EXECUTIVE board of the International Monetary Fund has cleared the latest tranche of bailout funding for the Government. Having completed the seventh review of Ireland’s performance under its programme, the IMF will proceed with the disbursement of just under €1 billion.

It said all end-June 2012 performance criteria and indicative targets had been met.

Income tax, VAT and corporation tax collections were ahead of expectations, it said. Yet “this overperformance was partly offset by higher health spending and unemployment benefits,” it added.

“The authorities have announced corrective measures for health spending.”

The IMF noted the euro zone leaders’s statement of June 29th that the Euro group will examine the situation of the Irish financial sector with a view to easing the State’s debt burden.

“This positive signal helped the Irish Government return to sovereign debt markets by raising €4.2 billion of new funds,” it said.

Moody’s rating agency yesterday announced it had cut the highest rating it would give to any Ireland-based private or public. It said “the lower ceiling reflects the risk of [euro] exit and redenomination in the unlikely event of a default by the sovereign”.