(MENAFN- AFP) Ireland took a major step on the road to economic recovery Tuesday as the eurozone nation enjoyed huge demand for its first bond issue since exiting a massive international rescue programme.Dublin raised 3.75 billion-euros ($5.1 billion) in a 10-year bond auction. The yield came in at 3.543 percent, while demand reached 14 billion euros."Today's 10-year bond sale is the National Treasury Management Agency's (NTMA's) first capital market transaction since the exit from the EU/IMF programme in December 2013," the government body said in a statement."The size of the final order book and the spread of investor interest across the globe demonstrate the appetite for Irish sovereign debt and Ireland's ability to fund its needs in the private debt markets."Dublin turned to the EU and the IMF in late 2010 after huge banking and public debts left Ireland unable to raise its own funding on the open markets.The 85-billion-euro bailout programme officially ended on December 15 after three years of tax hikes and spending cutbacks stabilised Dublin's finances.Finance Minister Michael Noonan said the strong demand justified Dublin's decision to exit the programme without a precautionary credit line from the EU's bailout fund."The level of demand for today's sale with some 14 billion euros of orders shows that the government's decision to exit the EU/IMF programme without a precautionary credit line has built strong confidence amongst investors," he said.Some analysts and opposition politicians have warned that the lack of an emergency line of credit might hinder Ireland's recovery if external market conditions deteriorated. Dermot O'Leary with Goodbody stockbrokers said Tuesday's auction was a further example of Ireland exceeding expectations in its rehabilitation path. "The unaided exit from the programme is a case in point, but market-related activity in the banks and the sovereign have been more impressive," he said."This morning's sale of a new 10-year bond is yet another example of this."The NTMA, the body that manages Ireland's public debt, said the working plan for 2014 was to raise between six and ten billion euros by way of pre-funding for 2015, when the government's cash reserves will no longer be sufficient.Last March, Ireland sold 5.0 billion-euros of a 10-year benchmark bond at a yield of 4.15 percent, the first such bond since January 2010.Irish government bonds are trading at lower yields compared with those of much-larger eurozone partners Italy and Spain and significantly lower than their peak of more than 14 percent in July 2011.Ireland has also raised cash in a number of short and medium-term auctions since July 2012, with the agency confident cash reserves are sufficient to fund the country until 2015.NTMA chief executive John Corrigan said last year's bond sales confirmed Ireland's ability to access long-term bond markets at sustainable rates and the agency would now ramp up its bond sales.
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