Professor John McHale:

I absolutely agree that it is an important issue. However, we have been given a particular mandate and it is not part of it. Certainly, the other three issues the Deputy mentioned are relevant to our mandate, namely, avoiding pro-cyclicality, ensuring there is good medium-term planning based on realistic medium-term projections and reducing Government debt. We certainly see a high level of Government debt as being a risk factor because it makes us more vulnerable in the event of a shock.