LONDON (Reuters) - While Ireland’s stock of sovereign debt is still high, the risk it presents to the country’s economic future is now low due to a lower interest bill, better government finances and higher credit ratings, the head of the Irish debt agency said on Wednesday.
"I would caution that we are still not completely safe – still not at base camp – but if we look carefully we can see it in the distance," National Treasury Management Agency chief executive Conor O’Kelly said in a speech.
O’Kelly also advised the government that there was merit to deciding on a pathway to reduce the state’s shareholdings in Irish banks and cautioned that waiting for share prices to get back to where the state sold them initially risked introducing “ownership bias”.