Image by Landahlauts via Flickr So last night it finally happened. We formalised the bailout. We are taking an €85 billion loan. We will be paying an interest rate of about 5.8%. We will be loaning money to ourselves. Yes, you read that last line right. €17.5 billion will be coming for the National Pension Reserve Fund and the other cash on hand funds. Who’s fault is this? The Banks. €35 billion of this is for them. €50 billion...
Image via Wikipedia A statement by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, the Rt. Hon. Mr George Osborne. From Hansard: With permission, Mr Speaker, I should like to make a statement regarding financial assistance for Ireland.I hope Members will understand that an announcement had to be made at the weekend, ahead of markets opening this morning. Last night, I spoke to the Chair of the Treasury Committee and the shadow Chancellor to keep them informed of the latest developments. The...
Image via Wikipedia One paragraph from yesterdays Observer’s Editorial should be memorised and remembered for a long time. Much of that story is familiar from other countries caught out by the credit crunch. But Ireland’s unique misfortune is to have, in Brian Cowen’s Fianna Fáil government, leaders who shipwrecked the economy and then capsized the lifeboats. The initial crisis response in 2008 was designed in such a way as effectively to absorb the doomed banking sector into the state,...
Image via Wikipedia Senator Dan Boyle, Chairman of the Green Party, has tweeted the following: There is a questioning of trust and an adding to uncertainty that is making the basis for being in government much more difficult. Are we about to see a General Election? Will the Greens pull out? Reuters has picked up on this story also. I wonder will the EU-IMF be putting pressure on the Greens too stay in government? Election.ie is rightly asking where...
Image via Wikipedia Maman Poulet has the story that the IMF are sending a team to Ireland to “participate in a short and focused consultation, together with the European Commission, and the ECB, in order to determine the best way to provide any necessary support to address market risks.” Full statement here How long until they are running the country? And how long can we hold out on this bailout? We either need a General Election or to give...
Image via CrunchBase As I have recently begun writing about the Bond Markets and posting about it on Facebook, an interesting discussion has taken place on why are we bothering reporting on it if we currently aren’t borrowing from the bond market and what exactly are bonds. So myself and another friend tried to explain why it is important. Comment 1: Good job we are not actually borrowing at the moment!! (Which is why I am surprised that we...
Image by Lochinvar1 via Flickr Yesterday I found this post on the Telegraph website (via Stephen Kinsella). Its quite a worrying read for those of us who are worried about Ireland’s future. Ireland is funded until April but after that we will have to return to the bond market. Our auctions are currently suspended. As Colm McCarthy said in the Irish Independent “The €1.5bn not borrowed in October plus the €1.5bn not borrowed in November represent borrowing postponed, not...
Image via Wikipedia The Telegraph have an excellent article on the latest IMF report – “Will It Hurt? Macroeconomic Effects of Fiscal Consolidation” – and what it means for countries trying to make cuts. In Ireland we cut to quickly. We forgot to bring in a stimulus like other countries. Cuts in budgets mean growth cuts, which will lead to a longer depression. According to the report Southern Europe (Spain, Portugal, Italy and Greece) and Ireland could be in...
Things aren’t looking well for the Irish Economy at the moment and a few numbers seem to look fairly ominous for the economy and therefore the rest of us. FinanceDublin.com supplies one of the figures which is actually a Debt Clock tracking the Irish Governments Debt which currently stands at over 64 billion euro. That is a shocking figure which we and our children will have to pay off. The second figure comes from a press release by Deirdre...
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