Government ‘halfway’ to meeting 2013 deficit target

The Government is more than halfway towards meeting the 2013 EU/IMF budget deficit target, according to the end-of-December exchequer returns.

The Department of Finance agreed with the troika that the budget deficit would fall to 7.5% at the end of this year. The budget deficit target for 2012 had been 8.6%, although the Government announced on budget day that the deficit would come in at 8.2%.

Commenting on the latest exchequer figures, Finance Minister Michael Noonan, said: “The budget deficit is now going to come in comfortably below 8%, probably 7.9% or 7.8% is realistic.