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 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance
Chapter 1 - Exchequer Financial Outturn for 2015
Chapter 2 - Government Debt
Chapter 18 - Irish Fiscal Advisory Council
Finance Accounts 2015

9:00 am

Mr. John McCarthy:

I am dealing with the question. The information content in GDP is much less in Ireland than it is in other countries. We are still obliged to use GDP by our legal obligations. International organisations and financial markets will continue to look at GDP because it is the internationally accepted norm. GNI* is a domestic measure which no other country produces because it gives a better indication as to what is going on in the economy.