Ireland on course to hit GDP target

Ireland remains on course to hit its stated budget deficit target of 3% of GDP by the end of 2015, with latest figures showing that 2013 targets were bettered.

Data published by the CSO yesterday shows that the general government deficit amounted to 7.2% of GDP as of the end of 2013. This beat the initial target of 7.5% set for last year, and was down on 2012’s deficit of 8.2% of GDP.

In monetary terms, the deficit fell from €13.44bn to just under €11.8bn.