Written answers

Wednesday, 10 July 2019

Department of Finance

General Government Debt

Photo of Joan BurtonJoan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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132. To ask the Minister for Finance the estimated Exchequer borrowing requirement for 2019; the requirement in 2018; the projected borrowing requirement for 2020; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30297/19]

Photo of Paschal DonohoePaschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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I can advise the Deputy that the Exchequer recorded a surplus in 2018 of €0.1 billion, the first underlying surplus achieved since 2006 assisted inter alia by a strong corporation tax performance.

Turning to this year, the projected borrowing requirement is -€2.1 billion with the continued expansion of the National Development Plan; the refinancing of Irish Water's commercial loans with more competitively priced State funded debt and a projected €0.5 billion payment to the Rainy Day Fund contributing to this deterioration in the Exchequer position. For 2020 it is projected that an Exchequer surplus of €0.4 billion will be recorded, with an expected contribution from NAMA helping to boost the cash position.

Further detail on the Exchequer balance, including projections to 2024, are available in the Summer Economic Statement 2019asset out in table 3 therein.

Photo of Joan BurtonJoan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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133. To ask the Minister for Finance the gross and net General Government Debt for 2018; the projected end-of-year amounts for 2019 and 2020; the Exchequer cash and other assets including ISIF cash and non-equity investments and the other cash and assets held by source; the amounts as a percentage of GDP and GNI; if the information will be provided in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30298/19]

Photo of Paschal DonohoePaschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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As previously stated, my Department does not publish GNI forecasts, it does, however, publish forecasts in respect of nominal GDP and GNI*. Gross and net debt as a percentage of each of these variables are set out in the following table..

It should be noted that for 2018, figures are based on finalised CSO outturns for GDP. However, the CSO has not published finalised figures in respect of GNI*, therefore for 2018 projected GNI* as set out in the Stability Programme Update (SPU) 2019 is applied for the purpose of responding to this question. Furthermore, 2019 and 2020 figures are anchored to the official fiscal forecasts set out in the SPU 2019.

Exchequer cash and other assets, Ireland Strategic Investment Fund (ISIF) cash and non-equity investments and other cash and assets held by general government are combined as Excessive Debt Procedure (EDP) debt instruments assets below as the level of granularity of each is unavailable for forecasts.

201820192020
A1Gross General Government Debt (billions)206.2205.1196.7
A2Gross General Government Debt % of GDP64.861.155.8
A3Gross General Government Debt % of GNI*107.3101.793.0
B1EDP debt instrument assets (billions)28.627.819.3
B2EDP debt instrument assets % of GDP9.08.35.5
B3EDP debt instrument assets % of GNI*14.913.89.1
C1=A1-B1Net General Government Debt (billions)177.6177.3177.4
C2=A2-B2Net General Government Debt % of GDP55.852.850.3
C3=A3-B3Net General Government Debt % of GNI*92.487.983.9

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