asked the Minister for Finance his target for (a) the current budget deficit, (b) the Exchequer borrowing requirements and (c) the debt/gross national product ratio for 1988; if his attention has been drawn to the views of the social partners on the NESC report that the stabilization of the debt/gross national product ratios must be an immediate priority of fiscal policy; and, if so, his views on whether this can be achieved.
Written Answers. - Deficit and Borrowing Targets.
37.
No specific fiscal targets have yet been adopted for 1988.
I am aware of the emphasis placed by the NESC in their report on the need to stabilise the debt/GNP ratio. Indeed, the Council make it clear that they regarded stabilisation as only the first step towards the ultimate objective of reducing the ratio even more. The Government fully support that objective and the significant measures in this year's budget represent important progress in this regard. The process will be continued in the years immediately ahead. As in the present year, future budgetary adjustment will be accompanied by positive initiatives aimed at stimulating and increasing economic growth. Thus the strategy will be one of encouraging economic growth through the use of specific developmental initiatives within an overall policy of fiscal restraint. The approach will, I believe, result in the achievement of the stabilisation objective within the foreseeable future.