Written answers

Tuesday, 23 April 2024

Photo of Catherine MurphyCatherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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215. To ask the Minister for Finance if he will clarify whether the ISIF holds Israeli government bonds; if so, if he will provide details of same, including their value; and if the ISIF no longer holds such bonds, whether he will provide the date on which they were divested from and the rationale for same.; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18093/24]

Photo of Michael McGrathMichael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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The NTMA have informed me that ISIF publishes a detailed list of individual investments in its portfolio each year in the NTMA annual report.

The 2022 annual report is the most recent list of individual investments that has been published, detailing the position at end 2022. Please see the relevant link:

www.ntma.ie/annualreport2022/documents/NTMA-Annual-Report-2022-English.pdf

The relevant information is summarised in the table below.

Security Description Value €m
Israeli Government 0.500% 05/31/2029 0.42
Israeli Government 0.500% 11/30/2051 0.14
Israeli Government 0.750% 05/31/2027 0.38
Israeli Government 0.750% 10/31/2025 0.45
Israeli Government 1.000% 05/31/2045 0.29
Israeli Government 2.750% 08/30/2041 0.34
Israeli Government 4.000% 05/30/2036 0.43
Israeli Government 4.000% 07/31/2024 0.25
Total 2.69

The 2023 annual report will detail the position at end 2023 and will be published in the coming months.

Photo of Catherine MurphyCatherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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216. To ask the Minister for Finance if the Central Bank, as part of its investment strategies, has any interests directly in or with Israel; and if so, the details of same. [18094/24]

Photo of Michael McGrathMichael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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I am informed by the Central Bank of Ireland, that they held approximately €17bn of Investment Assets at the end of 2023, mostly invested in government bonds and other high-quality fixed income (bond) instruments issued by multilateral development banks, supranational organisations and government-linked agencies.

The Central Bank also holds equity investments, on a ‘passive basis’ i.e. using an external Asset Manager contracted to capture global equity market returns, on a fund which accounts for approximately three per cent of the Central Bank’s Investment Assets. This means that the external asset manager tracks the composition and performance of global equity indices as closely as possible.

The global developed market equity indices that the Bank’s asset manager tracks include two indices – the MSCI World Index and the MSCI World EU Paris-aligned Benchmark (PAB) Index – that have constituents companies listed on the Tel Aviv stock exchanges. As at end December, these Israel-listed equities accounted for approx. €500,000 or 0.003% of the Central Bank’s total Investment Assets of approx. €17bn.

The Central Bank of Ireland does not directly invest in Israel government bonds.

Since 2021, the Central Bank has participated in the US dollar-and euro-denominated green bond investment fund for central banks established by the Bank for International Settlements (BIS). The Central Bank owns a share of some USD 95m equivalent in a specialised investment fund for central banks of currently about USD 2.8 billion that invests in green bonds from qualifying issuers. The fund is designed such that investors (such as the Central Bank of Ireland) hold claims on the fund issuer (i.e. the BIS) according to the fund units that they own. Exposure to individual bonds at the investor level, therefore, is indirect and tends to be small.

While individual bond-level allocations are not publicly available, regional allocations at the latest reporting date (28 March 2024) suggest that most issuers reside in Europe, Asia-Pacific and the Americas or are supranational entities. Exposures to Israel were part of an allocation of around 1% to Other regions. All of these investments are financing or re-financing eligible projects with clear environmental or climate-related benefits.

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