Irish to dip toe in bond market with euro500 mln sale

[July 03, 2012]  DUBLIN (AP) -- Ireland's treasury says it will auction debt securities this week for the first time in nearly two years in a test to see whether the bailed-out country can resume normal borrowing on bond markets next year.

Treasury chief executive John Corrigan says Thursday's planned sale of euro500 million ($630 million) in three-month notes "marks an important first step in our phased re-entry to the capital markets."

Ireland stopped auctioning bonds in September 2010 after its cost of borrowing rose above 5 percent. The nation, crippled by the runaway costs of a bank-bailout program, was forced two months later to negotiate its own loan agreement with European and IMF chiefs. That euro67.5 billion ($85 billion) rescue fund is due to run dry by the end of 2013.

[Associated Press]

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