Written Answers. - Private and Public Investment.
William Cotter
Question:
61
Mr. Cotter
asked the
Minister for Finance
if he will give details of the total investment by private and public bodies as a percentage of GNP for each of the years 1988 to 1991; the way in which these figures compare with (a) the EC average and (b) the highest figure in Europe; whether the increase in corporate taxation proposed in the current budget will depress investment; if he will outline the proposals, if any, he has to bring investment in this State up to EC levels; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
I assume that the Deputy is concerned with total investment in EC countries rather than with its public and private sector components more widely in Europe. The latter details are not readily available for many EC members or for other European countries. Total investment as a percentage of GNP for Ireland, for the EC as a whole and for the EC member state with the highest investment so defined in each of the relevant years (Portugal), is set out in the following table for the period 1988 to 1990. Similar data is not yet available for 1991.
|
Year
|
Ireland (a)
|
EC Average (b)
|
EC Highest (b)
|
|
%
|
%
|
%
|
|
1988
|
18.3
|
20.2
|
27.4
|
|
1989
|
20.4
|
20.9
|
26.9
|
|
1990
|
21.1
|
21.0
|
26.5
|
(a) CSO National Income and Expenditure, 1990.
(b) OECD National Accounts, Volume 1, Paris, 1992.
The impact of the corporation tax measures announced in the 1992 budget is likely to be marginal. Such measures, in any event, must be seen in the light of the effects of the whole budget package. In this context, the responsible thrust of budgetary and economic policy of recent years, which was continued in the 1992 budget, has underpinned a strong recovery of investment which expanded by 30 per cent in volume during the years in question, reaching the EC average in 1990.
In addition to restoring the environment for investment, under the Community Support Framework negotiated by the Government Ireland has received a commitment of EC aid amounting to £2.86 billion (in 1989 prices) over the 1989-1993 period. Additional aid under Community initiatives has brought the total commitment to Ireland above £3 billion. Of this amount, £1.7 billion relates to the three years to end-1991.
The Government propose to continue to implement responsible budgetary and economic policies which will support future investment; and, in the context of ongoing developments within the Community, to continue to seek adequate structural and cohesion assistance for its poorer regions. The Deputy will be aware that the recent Commission proposals on the Community budget for 1993 to 1997, contained in the so-called Delors II package, call for a doubling of structural resources available to the poorer regions of the EC, including Ireland, in the period 1993 to 1997, over the 1992 level.
