Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 21 November 2018
123. Deputy Michael McGrath asked 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]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe 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.
|
|
2017 |
2018 |
2019 |
2020 |
2021 |
2022 |
2023 |
|
Structural balance, per cent of GDP |
0.4 |
-1.0 |
-0.7 |
0.0 |
0.2 |
1.0 |
1.4 |
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.
