Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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I am advised by the National Treasury Management Agency (NTMA) that the position regarding the interest rate applying to each of the EU/IMF Programme loan facilities, as at 10 February 2015, is as set out in the table following. 

Facility	Loan Amount (bn) as at 10 Feb 2015	€ Equivalent (bn) as at 10 Feb 2015	Interest Rate on Loan Amount	Reference Rate Basis
EFSM	EUR 22.5	22.5	3.00%	Fixed rate based on EFSM cost of funds1
EFSF	EUR 18.4	18.4	2.21%	Some fixed but mainly pooled rate based on EFSF cost of funding
UKT	GBP 3.2	3.9	2.60%	Fixed, based on UK cost of funding
SKL	EUR 0.6	0.6	1.08%2	3-month Euribor plus margin of 1%
DKK	EUR 0.4	0.4	1.07%2	3-month Euribor plus margin of 1%
IMF	XDR 9.0	10.3	2.79%	Floating rate + 1% margin + surcharges

¹ The interest rate on Ireland's EFSM loans is based on the EFSM's cost of funds when it issues bonds. Such issuance is matched against the loans.

² Reflects 3-month Euribor at time of most recent rate resets

The Deputy should be aware that the mixture of floating and fixed interest rates across the various EU/IMF Programme facilities makes it difficult to compare one facility directly against another as they contain different interest rate risk profiles, currencies and maturities.  In addition, the floating interest rates quoted are at a point in time and are, therefore, subject to change depending on movements in market rates.

As the Deputy will be aware, Ireland is currently in the process of repaying the most expensive portion of its IMF loans and replacing it with less expensive market based funding. Following the second tranche of early repayment of approximately €3.5 billion on 6 February 2015, the total cumulative early repayment to date is approximately €12.5 billion, representing over half of the State's IMF loan facility.