Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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123. To ask the Minister for Finance the projected structural deficit for the scenario outlined in table A8 of the Budget 2019 Economic and Fiscal Outlook; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [48578/18]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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The projected structural balance can be found in Table 1 of the Economic and Fiscal Outlook published in Budget 2019. The relevant part of the table is reproduced below for the Deputy's convenience.

While slightly outside the 0.5 per cent structural deficit target the European Commission applies a discretionary margin of 1/4 percentage points when assessing achievement of the MTO, given the uncertainty in the estimates of the output gap.

The European Commission's own forecasts, published earlier this month, project a structural deficit of 0.5 per cent of GDP for 2019.