Regina Doherty (Meath East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

To answer Deputy Broughan's question, the gross domestic product, GDP, will continue to be the denominator for the deficit and debt ratios under the fiscal compact rules. GNI* will just be an alternative denominator for use below the line in the ratio analysis when aggregates such as deficit, debt or investments are being expressed as a percentage of the indicator of the size of the economy. This new analytical data, GNI*, is unique to Ireland. To answer the questions of both Deputies, the European Union institutions just recognise that it is unique to Ireland's highly globalised market. It is obviously not something they will follow suit on and do for their own relative markets. We will be producing the data on a quarterly basis until we catch up but thereafter it will be on an annual basis. Once we complete by the middle of this year the catch-up quarterly reports from 2005 to 2015, we will issue the reports on an annual basis from 2018 onwards.

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