THE INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND (IMF) has said it does not expect its assistance to be needed for Ireland, and has praised the efforts of the government in propping up Ireland’s banking system.

An IMF spokesperson told Reuters that it did “not envision that IMF financing will be needed. “With the most recent policy measures, the authorities continue their support of the banking system and help maintain financial stability.”

A Department of Finance spokesperson had earlier accredited the increase in the market price of Irish 10-year government bonds today to a ‘misinterpretation of a research report’ which led to a rumour that Ireland would need external help to repay its debts and fund government expenditure.

The comments come as the market yields of government bonds reached a new record of 6.324%, an increase of 0.284% on the morning’s opening price, and a relative day-on-day increase of 4.426%.

Credit default swaps on Irish debt are now trading at 4.25%, a .38% increase on the morning price.

The spike came as news broke of a report from Barclays Bank which suggested that the Irish government may eventually need to seek the intervention of the (IMF) if macroeconomic conditions worsened.

If Ireland needed a cash injection in order to meet its debt, however, it would first revert to the European Financial Stability Facility, or EuroTARP. Realisation of such a facility has helped halt a slide in the euro-dollar exchange rate, which had dipped below $1.3050 earlier.

The price of oil is also up on world markets, though this is likely attributable to the threat of Hurricane Earl as it threatens to hit the Gulf of Mexico and halt drilling operations there for some time.