THE NATIONAL Treasury Management Agency (NTMA) said yesterday that it will issue €20 billion of Government bonds in 2010 through 11 auctions to be held throughout the year.

The NTMA said in a statement that auctions would range between €1 – €1.5 billion.

The funding target for 2010 is a 40 per cent reduction on the €33.7 billion issued in 2009.

Bond auctions will be held on the third Tuesday of every month, beginning on January 19th.

The NTMA said in its end of year review on Thursday that the funding requirement for 2010 would be lower than last year’s due to a smaller projected exchequer deficit of €18.7 billion. The refinancing requirement of bonds will also be lower this year.

The State’s national debt stood at €75.2 billion at the end of the year. Interest repayments totalled €3.2 billion last year, €686 million below budget as interest rates fell over the latter part of the year.

NTMA chief executive John Corrigan said on Thursday that the exchequer was protected against the effects of rising interest rates, with some 95 per cent of the national debt now carrying fixed rates of interest.

The spread between Irish bonds and euro zone benchmark German Bunds was 1.45 percentage points at the end of the year.

Yesterday morning, the spread had narrowed to 140 basis points, and has been been tightening since recording 198 basis points on December 10th.