merrion street

Ireland has today (7 February 2013) successfully concluded the ninth review mission of our EU-IMF Programme. In line with each of the previous quarterly reviews, Ireland has met all of the commitments and our continued strong programme implementation has been recognized by the Troika.

This review mission, which started on January 29th, has again involved a detailed assessment of the macroeconomic outlook, the fiscal position, and the progress being made on the restructuring of the financial sector and broader structural reforms in line with the commitments set out for the fourth quarter of 2012.

As is always the case, the 9th review of the Programme also included a forward looking element which culminated in the agreement of the programme commitments for the upcoming quarter and the remainder of the Programme.

The objective of all parties is to position Ireland to emerge successfully from the Programme at the end of this year.

On welcoming the successful conclusion of the 9th review mission, Minister Noonan and Minister Howlin stated:

“We are pleased to confirm that Ireland has successfully completed the 9th Review Mission and we continue to meet all of our targets. The completion of the Q4 2012 programme conditions brings to over 190 the number of commitments that have been fulfilled on time and we have now drawn down some 84% of the available funding. Throughout the course of the review we have demonstrated significant progress on delivering on our commitments but we do not underestimate the significant challenges that remain. Our focus is now firmly on our exit strategy from the Programme, our re-entry into the financial markets and the debt sustainability of the Programme”.