Imark
Forumer storico
L'Irlanda smentisce di avere chiesto aiuti alla UE, dicendo che si tratterebbe di un comportamento "privo di senso". Che é, un remake del film greco ?
DJ Ireland Denies Applying For EU Facility
12.11.10
By Nicholas Winning and Ainsley Thomson Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
DUBLIN -- Ireland's finance minister said Friday that the country hasn't
applied for European financial aid, a step he said "doesn't to me make any
sense."
He also said that the government's austerity budget would be passed when it is
presented in early December.
European financial markets have swung wildly Friday amid heightened concerns
about Ireland's economic problems and following a report the country is in
talks to receive financial support from the European Financial Stability
Facility set up by euro-zone countries to support member nations in financial
difficulties.
"We have not, contrary to much speculation, applied to join any facility or
avail of any facility," Irish Finance Minister Brian Lenihan said in an
interview on Ireland's state broadcaster RTE Radio.
A spokesman for Jean-Claude Juncker, chairman of the Eurogroup of 16 nations
using the euro, said Lenihan's denial was "quite sufficient."
European Commission spokeswoman Amelia Torres said the report that Ireland was
in talks to receive support was "pure speculation."
Ireland's Lenihan said the Irish state was well funded until June next year
and also had substantial reserves in its pension reserve fund.
"The country is not in a situation when it is required in any way to apply for
the facility. Why apply in those circumstances? It doesn't to me make any
sense--it will just send a signal to the markets that we are not in a position
to manage our affairs ourselves," he said.
The Irish government is working on a plan to make EUR15 billion of budget cuts
over the next four years--EUR6 billion of them in 2011--in an effort to reduce
the country's budget deficit to the EU's target of 3% of gross domestic product
by 2014.
Investor concerns about the plan, its impact on Ireland's growth prospects,
and whether the government will muster the political support to push it
through, have driven up the country's bond yields.
The budget, which is due to be presented on Dec. 7, is proving increasingly
unpalatable to opposition lawmakers and even to some members of the governing
Fianna Fail party.
"I am quite satisfied.. that the budget will be passed and that there will be
full political support for the budget," Lenihan said. "And that we can give
leadership to people in showing where exactly this country can go in the next
few years."
Lenihan said the single most credible step Ireland could take was to rally
around a four-year plan that will show that the country is on a path to
correcting its public finances. Ireland's budget deficit is expected to swell
to 32% of GDP by the end of the year.
"And that's why I've said, that were the budget not to pass this year it would
be a major failure of credibility in the political system," he said.
Lenihan again welcomed a joint statement by the finance ministers of Germany,
France, Italy, the U.K. and Spain earlier Friday that the EU's negotiations
over a new crisis mechanism for euro-zone states has no effect on Ireland's
debt woes.
Although the statement helped lower Irish government bond yields, the finance
minister said it was uncertain where yields would go due to the turbulence on
world markets.
Ireland's five-year credit default swap spread was 0.48 percentage points
tighter Friday at 5.52 percentage points, according to data provider Markit.
This means it now costs an average of $552,000 a year to insure $10 million of
debt issued by the country. CDS are tradable, over-the-counter derivatives that
function like an insurance contract against defaults on debt.
And the yield spread between 10-year Irish and German government bonds was
0.852 percentage points tighter at 5.635 percentage points.
Lenihan also sought to reassure listeners that Irish authorities have
correctly assessed the potential losses in the housing market amid heightened
concerns that the country will be hit by a wave of mortgage failures.
The governor of the central bank and local regulators were, "quite satisfied
that as far as anticipated losses through mortgage books are concerned, they
are fully factored into the capitalization...recommended last September," he
said.
DJ Ireland Denies Applying For EU Facility
12.11.10
By Nicholas Winning and Ainsley Thomson Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
DUBLIN -- Ireland's finance minister said Friday that the country hasn't
applied for European financial aid, a step he said "doesn't to me make any
sense."
He also said that the government's austerity budget would be passed when it is
presented in early December.
European financial markets have swung wildly Friday amid heightened concerns
about Ireland's economic problems and following a report the country is in
talks to receive financial support from the European Financial Stability
Facility set up by euro-zone countries to support member nations in financial
difficulties.
"We have not, contrary to much speculation, applied to join any facility or
avail of any facility," Irish Finance Minister Brian Lenihan said in an
interview on Ireland's state broadcaster RTE Radio.
A spokesman for Jean-Claude Juncker, chairman of the Eurogroup of 16 nations
using the euro, said Lenihan's denial was "quite sufficient."
European Commission spokeswoman Amelia Torres said the report that Ireland was
in talks to receive support was "pure speculation."
Ireland's Lenihan said the Irish state was well funded until June next year
and also had substantial reserves in its pension reserve fund.
"The country is not in a situation when it is required in any way to apply for
the facility. Why apply in those circumstances? It doesn't to me make any
sense--it will just send a signal to the markets that we are not in a position
to manage our affairs ourselves," he said.
The Irish government is working on a plan to make EUR15 billion of budget cuts
over the next four years--EUR6 billion of them in 2011--in an effort to reduce
the country's budget deficit to the EU's target of 3% of gross domestic product
by 2014.
Investor concerns about the plan, its impact on Ireland's growth prospects,
and whether the government will muster the political support to push it
through, have driven up the country's bond yields.
The budget, which is due to be presented on Dec. 7, is proving increasingly
unpalatable to opposition lawmakers and even to some members of the governing
Fianna Fail party.
"I am quite satisfied.. that the budget will be passed and that there will be
full political support for the budget," Lenihan said. "And that we can give
leadership to people in showing where exactly this country can go in the next
few years."
Lenihan said the single most credible step Ireland could take was to rally
around a four-year plan that will show that the country is on a path to
correcting its public finances. Ireland's budget deficit is expected to swell
to 32% of GDP by the end of the year.
"And that's why I've said, that were the budget not to pass this year it would
be a major failure of credibility in the political system," he said.
Lenihan again welcomed a joint statement by the finance ministers of Germany,
France, Italy, the U.K. and Spain earlier Friday that the EU's negotiations
over a new crisis mechanism for euro-zone states has no effect on Ireland's
debt woes.
Although the statement helped lower Irish government bond yields, the finance
minister said it was uncertain where yields would go due to the turbulence on
world markets.
Ireland's five-year credit default swap spread was 0.48 percentage points
tighter Friday at 5.52 percentage points, according to data provider Markit.
This means it now costs an average of $552,000 a year to insure $10 million of
debt issued by the country. CDS are tradable, over-the-counter derivatives that
function like an insurance contract against defaults on debt.
And the yield spread between 10-year Irish and German government bonds was
0.852 percentage points tighter at 5.635 percentage points.
Lenihan also sought to reassure listeners that Irish authorities have
correctly assessed the potential losses in the housing market amid heightened
concerns that the country will be hit by a wave of mortgage failures.
The governor of the central bank and local regulators were, "quite satisfied
that as far as anticipated losses through mortgage books are concerned, they
are fully factored into the capitalization...recommended last September," he
said.
