NEW YORK CITY-Ireland’s 2012 budget, announced last week, contained several potential bright spots for US investors. As the country continues to struggle with debt issues, its banks selling off tranches of loan portfolios for US assets like the Bank of Ireland’s recent $400-million sale of assets to Kennedy Wilson, last week’s developments—specifically the suspension of capital gains tax within certain parameters—could have a significant impact, experts say.

“The budget contains a number of measures which will give greater certainty and greater support to Irish and international investors,” National Asset Management Agency CEO Brendan McDonagh said in a statement. NAMA is the Irish governmental agency formed in 2009 to shepherd the country's banks through the debt crisis.

McDonagh added that a “lack of certainty” on the issue of capital gains tax “was a major concern among investors.”