Irish seek new EU credit line to ease bailout exit

The Irish government said it wants the European Union to grant it a new precautionary line of credit worth a potential 10 billion euros ($13 billion) to ease its planned exit this year from an international bailout, AP reported. Finance Minister Michael Noonan says Ireland wants the credit line only as a safeguard "to give confidence to our lenders." He says the figure equates roughly to Ireland's forecast 2014 budget deficit. Ireland plans to impose its sixth straight austerity budget in October and resume full-fledged borrowing from bond markets by year's end. It has spent the past three years dependent on 67.5 billion euros in loans provided by EU partners and the International Monetary Fund. Noonan made Friday's reported comments to the Irish Independent newspaper.