Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Tuesday, 7 July 2020
Special Committee on Covid-19 Response
Impact of Covid-19: Overall Fiscal and Monetary Position
Mr. Frank O'Connor:
Yes, investors are watching and we have been quite fortunate, and it has made our position easier, to have been in budget balance and then gone into a budget surplus. Of course, this year investors understand that just like other sovereigns the onset of the pandemic means we will go into fiscal deficit. Really it is a relative business and investors look at us compared to others. At the stability programme update in April, the scenario for Ireland was to face a deficit of approximately 7.4% of GDP. This would put us in the middle of the pack relative to our eurozone peers. As I alluded to in my opening remarks, Ireland is very much in the middle of the pack and we are not part of the story, whereas in the previous financial crisis, we were very much to the forefront.
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