Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 31 May 2023

Committee on Budgetary Oversight

Sovereign Wealth Funds: Discussion (Resumed)

Photo of Richard Boyd BarrettRichard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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If I understand correctly, Mr. Gjedrem says that they only use the returns that the funds generate and that, roughly speaking, the level of the return, at about 3%, is what will then be transferred to the structural deficit. Am I right in saying that the sort of deficit figures we are talking about, which presumably set the kind of spending limits for the Government in any given year, if we are talking about a fund of €1.2 trillion, that a 3% return on that is €36 billion? Am I in the right sort of ballpark? That is the deficit that the finance minister will say: "We have got €36 billion to play with this year above and beyond other revenues from oil." If there is no return, or as Mr. Gjedrem says, a minus return, does that mean there is no scope for additional spending in that year? Is that it? Is it the case that if there is a loss, there is not going to be a transfer from the fund?