Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Wednesday, 19 Oct 1994

Vol. 446 No. 1

Written Answers. - Exchequer Returns.

Ivan Yates

Ceist:

37 Mr. Yates asked the Minister for Finance if there will be a current Budget surplus in the Exchequer accounts for 1994 in view of the likelihood that surplus tax receipts exceed the target current Budget deficit of £269 million on the basis of independent forecasts. [1216/94]

Minister for Finance (Mr. B. Ahern)

As I indicated in the press statement which accompanied the release of the Exchequer returns for end-September, tax receipts and the current budget continue to benefit from favourable timing factors, mainly relating to the tax amnesties. Nonetheless, a buoyant performance by virtually all tax heads is pointing to a very healthy outturn surplus of tax receipts over initial estimates for the full year.

The extent to which the tax surplus will reduce the current budget deficit below the initial target is obviously a function not only of the size of the surplus itself, but also of the performance of the other relevant components — non-tax revenue and current expenditure —vis-à-vis their targets. While I expect that the outturn will be reduced by a significant margin below the initial forecast at this stage, I do not envisage that the current deficit will be eliminated this year.