Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Thursday, 6 July 2017
Public Accounts Committee
2015 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 11 - Office of the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform
Vote 12 - Superannuation and Retired Allowances
Vote 18 - Shared Services
Vote 39 - Office of Government Procurement
Chapter 3 - Vote Accounting and Budget Management
Comptroller and Auditor General Special Report 95: Financial Reporting in the Public Sector
9:00 am
Mr. Robert Watt:
The expenditure benchmark depends on whether a state is in an excessive deficit procedure or the preventive arm and, if the latter, whether the state has achieved its medium-term objective of a structural balance of 0.5% or is moving towards it. We are moving towards it, so our spending can grow in line with potential growth adjusted for the convergent margin, which is a function of how far our deficit is away from the structural balance. When we reach a structural balance, spending will be able to grow in line with potential growth as debated between the Department of Finance and the European Commission.
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