There was a substantial increase in the proportion of government debt held by non-residents in the year to August.

According to figures from the Central Bank, just over 60% of government bonds were held by overseas institutions or individuals in August, up from 54% in the same month last year.

The pace of the increase is easing as holdings by the combined domestic Credit institutions and Central Bank increase.

The value of outstanding government bonds stood at €123.88 billion in August.

That was a reduction of €542 million, principally due to the repurchase from the Central Bank of Ireland and cancellation of floating rate bonds relating to the Irish Bank Resolution Corporation.

Irish credit institutions and the Central Bank account for 92.1% of the resident bond holdings.

The Central Bank figures indicate that just under €50 billion of government debt is due to mature in the next 5 years.