The Department of Finance has cut its forecast of the amount of money the Government will need to borrow this year. The forecast was cut by €1bn.
The department now expects an Exchequer deficit of €1.8bn, compared with the €2.8bn estimated at Budget time, mainly because of higher tax returns in the first seven months of the year.
The revised forecast, which has just been published, also raised the department’s growth forecasts for this year.
Gross Domestic Product is now expected to grow by 4.7%, compared with a Budget forecast of 3.3%.
The department also now expects an average inflation rate of 2.2% for the year, compared with 3.5% last year.
