Ireland has sold €500 million in treasury bills in its first sale of such short-term debt in 2013.

The National Treasury Management Agency said the sale had met its target, with total bids of €1.894 billion received.

The short-term bills, which have a maturity of three months, had an annualised yield of 0.2 per cent.A similar offering of three-month treasury bills sold in November 2012 carried an average yield of 0.55 per cent.

Two further monthly auctions are due to take place in the first quarter of the year.

Today's debt sale follows last week's auction of €2.5 billion in Irish sovereign debt as part of a syndicated tap on Ireland's 2017 bond.

The NTMA has set a total funding target of €10 billion for 2013, as Ireland prepares its exit from the EU-International Monetary Fund bailout programme.