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Stability and Growth Pact

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Before the introduction of the Macroeconomic Imbalance Procedure (MIP), the EU monitored economic developments within the economies of member states through the Stability and Growth Pact (SGP). This framework now operates in tandem with the MIP and sets thresholds on both budget deficits (3% of GDP) and public debt levels (60% of GDP). The Excessive Deficit Procedure (EDP) is the 'corrective arm' of the SGP which aims to correct breaches in the thresholds through the pursuance of sound public finances and fiscal policies.

General Government Debt (% of GDP)Pact Threshold
200623.609735378277660
200723.897286235301760
200842.413510818650360
200961.860707239143360
201086.299304166145960
2011109.62322200048160
2012119.49431308209160
2013119.47101706939560
2014105.24942096928960
201578.624720361319160

Source publication: Government Finance Statistics, Annual

Get the data: StatBank GFQ13

This indicator has been part of the SGP which was introduced in 1993 and is the same indicator as Headline Indicator 9 from the MIP Scoreboard, with the same threshold. Ireland has surpassed the 60 percent threshold of the Stability and Growth Pact for gross government debt as a percentage of GDP since 2009, although this ratio has declined in value since 2013.

Annual Gross Debt (% of GDP)Annual Net Debt (% of GDP)Pact Threshold
200623.609735378277614.307321061469360
200723.897286235301714.183214441396660
200842.413510818650322.450323927659760
200961.860707239143336.677444434031160
201086.299304166145966.263523226597660
2011109.62322200048177.746904483596860
2012119.49431308209186.089921951114760
2013119.47101706939589.194304072523160
2014105.24942096928986.20536761820460
201578.624720361319167.053052674094160

Source publication: Government Finance Statistics, Annual

Get the data: StatBank GFA01

Net government debt is gross government debt minus the value of the financial assets corresponding to the categories of financial liabilities which comprise gross government debt. The gap between gross and net debt peaked in 2012 at 33.4% of GDP but has declined steadily since then to stand at 11.6% of GDP at end-2015.

Annual General Government Surplus / Deficit (% of GDP) (LHS)Pact Threshold (LHS)Annual Expenditure (RHS)Annual Revenue (RHS)
20062.80894696889827-362.609820184898267.8080780346667
20070.272821419556237-370.727476480915271.2657352107544
2008-6.97905207338751-378.49907098568765.4002822590598
2009-13.8132028532481-379.951619058664356.5100132744967
2010-32.1181468550083-3109.08394604821255.4067244170496
2011-12.6202280666972-379.557446847105957.7155918392531
2012-7.97320646893164-373.50584498416359.4926454529849
2013-5.65637725381284-371.715205569046761.5218892409908
2014-3.72569958891663-372.999633768079865.80308758268
2015-1.87088409765823-375.319694391150670.5336906549807

Source publication: Government Finance Statistics - Annual

Get the data: StatBank GFA01, StatBank N1505

Ireland ran a general government surplus from 2006 to 2007. From 2008 to 2014, Ireland consistently exceeded the 3% of GDP threshold for government deficits set out in the Stability and Growth Pact. These deficits increased until 2010 due to several factors. They were partly caused by declining revenue, which steadily fell until 2010. A significant cause of the fall in revenue was due to a sharp decline in the property development sector. Expenditure also increased until 2010. A major component of these increases was exceptional capital support for domestic financial institutions in 2009 and particularly in 2010. General government deficits fell after this point with increases in overall revenue and falls in expenditure. In 2015 the General government deficit stood at 1.9% of GDP, falling within the Stability and Growth Pact threshold for the first time since 2007.

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