Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Wednesday, 8 March 2017
Committee on Budgetary Oversight
Developments in the National Debt: National Treasury Management Agency
2:00 pm
Mr. Conor O'Kelly:
We have been the beneficiary of an extraordinary interest rate environment since the beginning of the QE announcement in early 2015. The effect has been to anchor short rates but also to flatten yield curves and keep longer rates allowing countries like ours to access longer-dated borrowings and improve the profile. That has been the significant benefit. Ultimately, it has to stop at some point.