Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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137. To ask the Minister for Finance the gross and net debt positions as a percentage of GDP and GNI following the publication of the 2016 national accounts update in July 2017; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [36006/17]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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As a result of the recently released National Income and Expenditure (NIE) results the 2016 GDP and GNI have undergone upward revisions compared to the estimates available at the time of compiling the 2017 Stability Programme Update (SPU).

The updated ratios of Gross General Government Debt and Net General Government Debt are presented in the following table.  In addition the ratios are expressed as a percentage of the new metric produced by the CSO, so-called GNI*.  This latter ratio clearly demonstrates that public debt remains high in Ireland and underlines the need for sensible budgetary policies.

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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138. To ask the Minister for Finance the factors influencing the difference between gross and net debt including an arithmetical reconciliation for 2016; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [36007/17]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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General Government Gross Debt is the gross debt liabilities of the consolidated General Government (GG) sector, at nominal value. It excludes liabilities in derivatives, equity liabilities, pension and insurance liabilities and accounts payable.

General Government Net Debt is a measure produced in accordance with the methodology of the IMF/World Bank Public Sector Debt Statistics Guide, by subtracting from the GG Gross Debt figure the value of the financial assets corresponding to the categories of financial liabilities which comprise GG Gross Debt, i.e. currency and deposits; short and long-term debt securities; and short and long-term loans.

The Central Statistics Office (CSO) recently published the Government Finance Statistics Quarterly Results. The reconciliation between Gross GG Debt and Net GG Debt can be found in Table 7 General Government Gross and Net Debt.