Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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My Department published the Stability Programme Update (SPU) in April this year which contained fiscal forecasts out to 2018. As general government debt expressed as a percentage of gross domestic product is the standard metric internationally for assessing debt levels, general government interest rather than national debt interest is the more appropriate metric to look at.  The SPU general government interest costs are set out in the table.

€m	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018
General government interest	7,966	8,452	8,836	9,251	9,573

Budget 2015 on 14 October will contain updated fiscal forecasts, including interest expenditure. The forecast of interest expenditure will take into account any change in the Exchequer Borrowing Requirement (EBR), repayment profiles and the interest rate environment. It should also be noted that the SPU estimates of general government interest were calculated in accordance with the standards set in the 1995 European System of Accounts (ESA95) while the Budget estimates will be calculated on an ESA 2010 basis that entered into force with effect from the 1st of September this year. 

In relation to the proposed early repayment of IMF loans, the proposal is to make an early repayment of a portion of those loans and final agreement on this is subject to the necessary national approval procedures. Annual savings achieved on interest expenditure due to any early repayment will depend market conditions at the time of any such repayments, however the cash savings achieved over the maturity of the loans are expected to be in the region of €1.5 billion.