Ireland may have to pay 6 per cent upon its return to international bond markets, Minister of State Brian Hayes said today.
In a speech to the Eolas Future of State Assets Seminar today, he said State-owned utilities showed a 2 per cent equivalent return of year end shareholders funds compared to a European average of above 5 per cent.
"Then contrast this to a situation of the state having to most likely borrow at around 6 per cent rates when we return to the markets," he said.
He said the Government needed to examine the on-going case for State ownership and seek to reach an informed view as to what is "strategic and essential to the national interest".
Mr Hayes said semi-state bodies would continue to be a core part of the economy.
"The sale of State assets is not about ideology. It's about winning the future. It's an intelligent use of resources during a time of severe financial constraints. Using assets, which we own, allows us to raise new capital to invest in new infrastructure to improve the economy and create new jobs," he said.
"The top priority of the Government will continue to be job creation. While capital spending from the exchequer remains low we need to look at new ways of funding key infrastructure. This is about our determination to help ourselves recover and rebuild. There is an economic imperative about getting on with the job."
The Government is required to raise €2 billion from the sale of assets under the EU-IMF bailout deal
Minister for Communications Pat Rabbitte told the Dáil last week that the sale of a minority stake in the ESB is expected to take place next year .
He said he would envisage "the specific transaction being progressed throughout 2012", but claims that the decision will inevitably lead to the State losing its majority shareholding are incorrect. He said the State would continue to have a strong majority shareholding in the ESB and that the overall objective was "a transaction that produces a compatible minority partner for the ESB".
Aer Lingus, in which the State has a 25 per cent stake, is also on a list of State assets that could be sold.
