Ireland cancels June bond auction, citing lower borrowing needs

DUBLIN – Ireland’s debt agency on Monday cancelled a bond auction scheduled for next month, citing a strong fiscal performance so far this year that prompted the finance ministry to lower its estimated borrowing requirements for 2022.

The finance ministry expects the budget deficit to narrow at a faster-than-expected rate to 0.8% of gross national income this year and said last month that the impact of the war in Ukraine would slow rather than derail economic growth.

The National Treasury Management Agency said it still planned to issue between 1 and 1.25 billion euros in 10- and 23-year debt on Thursday. It has raised 4.5 billion euros on the bond market this year from a planned range of 10 to 14 billion euros.