Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Tuesday, 8 October 2013

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform

Macroeconomic Forecasting: Discussion with Department of Finance

7:20 pm

Photo of Michael McGrathMichael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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Therefore, a deficit figure of 5.1% would give a general government deficit cash balance of about €8.7 billion. In April the SPU forecast that the general government deficit would be about €7.5 billion, but that was to be expressed as a percentage of a greater nominal GDP balance and would have given a deficit of 4.3% of GDP. Mr. McCarthy is prepared to give us as much information as possible on the macro-economic forecasts, but he will not tell us anything at all about what it means for the budget and the fiscal position.