Continuing improvements in the economic environment and an accommodative monetary policy contributed towards improved financing conditions during late 2017. Households continued to reduce debt to more sustainable levels over the year. Household debt is now at its lowest level since late 2005. Furthermore, mortgage arrears continued to fall and there was further movement towards more sustainable long-term solutions.
Government net financial wealth also continued to increase over Q2 2017. In December, the Government repaid the outstanding IMF loan facility in full (€4.5 billion), as well as the bilateral loans from Sweden (€0.6 billion) and Denmark (€0.4 billion). These early repayments further reduce the Exchequer debt service bill by an estimated €150 million over the remaining life of the loans.
Non-financial private-sector enterprises continued on a net basis to repay loans with Irish credit institutions, as repayments outstripped borrowing during Q3 2017, albeit to a lesser extent than in previous quarters.
Read this chapter in full: Financing Developments in the Irish Economy.
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