ITALY and Ireland are looking to tap buoyant investor appetite for government debt in the euro-area with the bloc’s first major bond sales of the year.

Ireland offered 10-year syndicated debt yesterday after mandating banks to raise between 3 billion euros (US$3.69 billion) and 4 billion euros, Bloomberg News quoted a source familiar with the matter as saying yesterday. Rome is gearing up for a 15-year benchmark offering.

Euro-area governments will raise over 1 trillion euros of debt this year, according to ING Groep NV, as they battle the economic fallout of the pandemic. Thanks to the European Central Bank’s bond-buying program, demand will more than offset the extra supply and continue to support a blistering rally that has pushed borrowing costs to all-time lows.

Ten-year Irish yields touched a record low of minus 0.34 percent Monday, while equivalent Italian securities fell to an unprecedented 0.51 percent in December. The bond rally comes amid concerns that the spread of the coronavirus will hamper the economic recovery.

Slovenia also mandated banks for a 10-year bond sale and a tap of a 2050 security Monday.

(SD-Agencies)