The National Treasury Management Agency (NTMA) plans to hold two more bond auctions this year, including a sale pencilled in for next week.

As the debt agency has limited itself to selling no more than €1 billion of bonds in each auction in recent years, it suggests that it will raise a maximum of €8.5 billion through bond sales for the whole of 2016. The NTMA, headed by chief executive Conor O’Kelly, has raised €6.5 billion so far this year in the bond markets, from its stated target range of €6 billion to €60 billion.

The next auction will be held on October 13th, followed with a sale planned for November 3rd.

The NTMA also plans to hold an auction for short-term debt, known as Treasury Bills, on December 15th.

The rate on Ireland’s benchmark 10-year bonds are hovering near record lows, at 0.317 per cent – compared to a euro-era high above 14 per cent that was reached at the height of the financial crisis in 2011.