Japan plans to buy at least a fifth of the initial installment of the bonds being sold to finance Europe’s bailout fund, which is aimed at rescuing Ireland.
Finance Minister Yoshihiko Noda said Tuesday that his government plans to buy “more than 20% of bonds” that will be issued by the fund in its initial installment of several billion euros expected later this month.
The European Financial Stability Facility, the rescue fund for countries using the euro common currency, is set to sell several billion euros of bonds later this month to help finance the 67.5 billion euros ($87.3 billion) international bailout of Ireland. The facility would also be used to fund other rescue efforts.
“It would be appropriate for Japan as a leading country to buy a certain amount as a contribution and also to increase the trust in the deal,” Noda said. “We want to buy more than 20% of bonds” to be issued by the fund, he said.
The Japanese government plans to chip in as much as 100 billion yen ($1.2 billion), or about one fifth of a potential up to 5 billion euros ($3.9 billion) bond issue from Japan’s foreign reserves, public broadcaster NHK said.
Tokyo loaned about 1.2 billion euros to Ireland last month as part of an international rescue effort through the International Monetary Fund, according to Japan’s largest newspaper Yomiuri. It said the planned bond purchase reflects Japan’s additional effort to stabilize the euro and keep the yen from rising further against the European regional currency.
The Japanese loan in December, which was not officially announced, could not be immediately confirmed late Tuesday.
Noda’s pledge helped to lift European markets which have been rattled by concerns that debt-laden Portugal might have to seek a bailout from other nations in Europe and the International Monetary Fund.
Portugal is to sell bonds on Wednesday and Portuguese officials have sought the help of China, which has already used its foreign currency reserves to buy Greek and Spanish debt.