Irish Times Needs Better Sources

Prior to today’s announcements, the Irish Times were flagging the following:

Mr Noonan will make a “watershed” argument for a EU-wide solution around passing bank losses on to bondholders in response to the tests on Bank of Ireland, AIB, Irish Life and Permanent and EBS building society. Government colleagues last night described it as the first radical policy departure from the previous Fianna Fail-led government.

A few months ago, just prior to the announcement of the EU-IMF agreement, the Times had reported:

The source said there was a “common understanding” between delegations from the EU Commission, the European Central Bank and the IMF that senior and junior bondholders should each pay a share of the rescue costs.

Two conclusions to draw from this. First, people shouldn’t pay much attention to the Irish Times reports on these matters. Second, the Times need better sources.

Anglo 2010 Annual Report

Oh, and by the way, Anglo Irish Bank released their annual report for 2010 today. Apparently, they lost €17.7 billion. Don’t worry though, it’s manageable.

ECB Press Releases

No announcement today of any new ECB facility for the banks. Three different press statements however, this one and this one welcoming the announcement, and this one possibly a preparation for a more substantive movement in ECB policy.

Department of Finance Presentation

Some of the economic and fiscal implications of today’s announcements are covered in this presentation.

The 2013 peak in public debt is upwardly revised from 103 percent to 111 percent of GDP  (€10 billion of the €24 billion is funded from NPRF), in the scenario in which all of the extra capital comes from the State.

Central Bank Financial Measures Programme Announcement

The Central Bank’s stress test announcements will be available on this webpage at 4.30.  A webcast of the press conference will be available here. The Minister for Finance’s statement is here.