THE DEPARTMENT OF Finance has said it expects 1.8 per cent GDP growth next year.
However, that forecast is based on a €3.1 billion adjustment in Budget 2014.
Speaking to the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform today, principal officer John McCarthy said he wanted to “stress that the forecasts are based on the purely technical assumption that an aggregate consolidation package of €3.1 billion is implemented for 2014, as this is the last formal articulation of government policy on the matter prior to our meetings with IFAC and today’s Government meeting.”
Earlier today, Minister Michael Noonan indicated the amount taken out of the economy next year will be over €2.5 billion – and not the suggested figure of €3.1 billion.
According to the Department, GNP (gross national product) will be a projected 1.4 per cent higher at the end of 2014.
It is also more positive on the labour market outlook with predictions of a drop in unemployment rates under 13 per cent.
The projections, which have already been submitted to the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (IFAC) in recent weeks, include possible risks such as a slowdown in the recovery of global growth or the re-intensification of eurozone macro-financial issues.
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