MINISTER FOR Finance Brian Lenihan is due to give presentations on the state of the public finances to investors in Paris and London at the end of next week, and visit other European financial centres the following week.

Invitations have been sent out to large companies and investors who buy government and bank bonds to attend presentations led by Mr Lenihan and State officials on Thursday, May 14th, in Paris, and Friday, May 15th, in London.

The Minister may also visit Frankfurt, Munich, Amsterdam and possibly Milan the following week, although details of Mr Lenihan’s visits to these cities have to be confirmed. A spokesman for the Department of Finance said details of the trip were being finalised.

The State’s debt-management body, the National Treasury Management Agency, and the Department of Finance are organising the visits to European financial centres to show how the Government is tackling the budget deficit and banking crisis.

Mr Lenihan’s tour of financial centres has been prompted by presentations given to international investors and the media in London over St Patrick’s Day.

The presentations to analysts, investors and financial journalists in March were seen as beneficial to helping the Government explain how it intended to address the deepening hole in the public finances and repair the banks.

The Government has raised €12.3 billion of a record €25 million required by the State this year in the international bond markets.

The difference in yield, or spread, between German and Irish bonds narrowed to the lowest level in almost four months as signs of recovery improved investors’ appetite for higher-yielding Government assets. The spread between the 10-year bond yields decreased eight basis points to 190 basis points, down from a high of 284 basis points on March 19th.