Goodbody forecasts national debt will increase to 87% of GDP by 2013

THE scale of the challenges facing the Government finances are such that unless corrective action is taken Goodbody Stockbrokers estimate that Government debt would increase to 87% of GDP by 2013.

On the basis of those unchanged policies the Government, in its Stability Programme in January said that Ireland would run budget deficits amounting to between 10% and 12% of GDP for the next five years.

But Goodbody economist Dermot O’Leary questioned if such debt, although not huge by international standards, will continue to be funded by bankers and governments now wary about the state of the Irish economy.