Holders of Irish Government Bonds - April 2016

08 June 2016 Press Release

View information release with charts (PDF 506.52KB)and related data tables.

Key Developments

  • The nominal value outstanding of government bonds decreased by €6,631 million to €120,667 million in April 2016.
  • The percentage held by non-residents declined to 57.7 per cent, the lowest since December 2014.

Outstanding government bonds stood at €120,667 million in April 2016, this is a drop of €6,631 million from last month. This was mainly due to the maturity of a bond in mid-April. This is the sole bond due to mature in 2016.

Within the next 5 years, €49,632 million of government bonds will mature (Table 1). Of this, €15,645 million will mature in the next 3 years, with a further €33,987 million in the two years after. Non-residents hold 67.4 per cent of these maturing bonds (Chart 1).

Non-resident holdings decreased over the month to €69,609 million, its lowest total since January 2015, in percentage terms, non-residents declined to 57.7 per cent, the lowest since December 2014.

Irish resident holdings decreased slightly to €51,059 million, with Irish credit institutions and the Central Bank of Ireland accounting for 93.3 per cent of the total (Chart 2).

Detailed tables and the explanatory notes can be found on the Central Bank of Ireland’s website here.

Notes

  1.   Data are sourced from the Central Bank of Ireland 
  2.   Data refer to €-denominated debt securities

Further information

This data series was published for the first time in April 2014. The new series beginning in April 2013 is based on improved information sources, so it is not directly comparable with previous publications. Care should, therefore, be exercised in comparing the new series with earlier publications.

The change has arisen due to the introduction of the Securities Holdings Regulation by the ECB in April 2013. The dataset is compiled from data submitted by all custodians resident in Ireland, direct reporting by end investors and information from the Government Bond Register held by the Central Bank to provide breakdowns by maturity and by holding sector.