UK as badly off if Ireland, if it were as honest
03 Oct '10 20:15leader from Telegraph top page: Ireland's figures look so bad because it's more honest than the UK
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/comment/liamhalligan/8038931/Why-we-need-to-follow-the-Irish-and-restructure-our-zombie-banks.html
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A lot of the reason Ireland's new headline fiscal numbers look so bad is that they're far more honest than equivalent data being presented elsewhere – in the UK, for instance. Ireland's gross government debt is now expected to rise from 64pc to 98pc of GDP this year. That's not high by international standards, but the increase is obviously sharp.
Having said that, because Ireland has large cash balances in its National Pension Reserve Fund – net government debt will actually be around 70pc of GDP, not much more than in the UK. Consider, also, that in contrast to Ireland, the vast majority of Britain's massive public sector pension liabilities are unfunded and off-balance sheet.
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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/comment/liamhalligan/8038931/Why-we-need-to-follow-the-Irish-and-restructure-our-zombie-banks.html
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A lot of the reason Ireland's new headline fiscal numbers look so bad is that they're far more honest than equivalent data being presented elsewhere – in the UK, for instance. Ireland's gross government debt is now expected to rise from 64pc to 98pc of GDP this year. That's not high by international standards, but the increase is obviously sharp.
Having said that, because Ireland has large cash balances in its National Pension Reserve Fund – net government debt will actually be around 70pc of GDP, not much more than in the UK. Consider, also, that in contrast to Ireland, the vast majority of Britain's massive public sector pension liabilities are unfunded and off-balance sheet.
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