The Irish Government announced in its April economic statement that it expects the government deficit to fall to 2.3% of GDP in 2015, well inside the 2.7% forecast in last year’s Budget.
Furthermore, the Minister for Finance announced that he expects to implement €1.5bn (or 0.8% of nominal GDP) worth of tax cuts and spending increases in October’s Budget for 2016. The coalition partners have agreed to split the Budget giveaway 50/50 between tax cuts and spending increases.
The official projections envisage gross debt falling from 109.7% of nominal GDP at end-2014 to 100% by end-2016.
Davy Stockbrokers believe that the forecasts for 2015’s deficit are still too conservative and that there is still more room for manoeuvre in Budget 2016.
Source: www.businessworld.ie