BRUSSELS (MNI) – The European Commission doesn’t have a comment on
Ireland’s latest growth figures and remains confident that the country’s
government will take the necessary steps to meet its fiscal targets, a
European Commission spokesman said on Friday.
Ireland’s second quarter gross domestic product data — released
Thursday — came in far below expectations, prompting some to worry that
that the country won’t be able to bring its budget deficit back below
the EU’s 3% stipulated limit by 2014. The Irish budget deficit is
currently almost 12%.
“We’ve seen those figures,” the EU’s spokesman for Economic and
Monetary Affairs, Amadeu Altafaj Tardio, told reporters, but he said the
Commission had no comment to make on them.
“We remain confident that the Irish authorities will take the
necessary measures in order to meet their fiscal consolidation targets,”
he added.
Ireland’s finance minister is set to outline the 2011 Irish budget
later this month and has hinted he will propose more cuts than the E3
billion already announced.
–Brussels: 0032 487 (0) 32 803 665, echarlton@marketnews.com
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