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FINANCE MINISTER MICHAEL Noonan has said that “somewhere north of €2.5 billion” will be taken out of the economy in the Budget to be announced this day week.

Speaking on his way into the Cabinet meeting this morning Noonan said that the Budget adjustment of tax increases and expenditure cuts will not be the planned €3.1 billion but “slightly ahead of  €2.5 billion” instead.

He said that “significant savings” from the decline in the numbers on the Live Register as well as from the National Treasury Management Agency mean that there is a “good bit” of wiggle room.

Noonan told reporters: “I’ve been saying that now for several months, that we can achieve our targets by not going the full way to 3.1 [billion euro] because there are other savings in the system, which can be reckoned as part of the adjustment.”

Asked about whether the Troika had agreed to what the government is proposing Noonan said that the State’s lenders “know the general approach”:

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