‘Growth strategy’ is an unspecific rehash of the past

Two things really stand out about the Government’s ‘strategy for growth’ paper — apart from the lack of detail — and that is the medium-term forecasts and a wider discussion about future developments in the eurozone.

The forecasts between 2016 and 2020 are shaped by the country’s membership of the single currency and the ratification of the fiscal stability treaty in 2012. In future, each year there will be very intrusive oversight of the preparation of budgets.

Even if the Government had not published a medium-term economic strategy, the fiscal and structural deficits would have to have been in the ballpark of the forecasts released yesterday because of obligations under the fiscal treaty.