The State has repaid more than €18 billion of the original €22.5 billion debt due to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) bailout loan.

The National Treasury Management Agency (NTMA) said on Friday that it has completed the third and final early repayment of part of the loan to the international body.

Friday’s payment of around €6 billion brings total repayments to date to “just over €18 billion, or 81 per cent” of the Republic’s original €22.5 billion IMF loan.

“These repayments discharge IMF principal repayment obligations that were originally to fall due from July 2015 to January 2012,” the agency said.

The IMF and EU agreed to loan the Government more than €67 billion in November 2010 when they bailed the State out of its sovereign debt.

Bailout lenders last year gave the Government permission to pay off €18 billion of the original €22.5 billion IMF loan to allow it to replace it with cash borrowed at lower interest rates from capital markets.

The State is now able to borrow money at record low interest rates.