Section B – The Financial Framework - Government Accounting

B4 – The Budget
capital budget deficit is financed by borrowing. If both current
and capital budgets are in deficit, both deficits are financed by
borrowing.
6. The difference between revenue and expenditure on the
Exchequer Account of the Central Fund is known as the
Exchequer Balance. If this is in deficit, the overall borrowing
which the Government undertakes to fund its spending plans is
known as the Exchequer Borrowing Requirement (EBR) (see
Section B3).
7. The Exchequer Balance is the traditional domestic budgetary
aggregate which measures Central Government’s net surplus or
borrowing position. It is the difference between total receipts
into and total expenditure out of the Exchequer Account of the
Central Fund.
8. The General Government Balance (GGB) is the standard
European measure of the fiscal balance, which is used to
monitor compliance with the Stability and Growth Pact (see
paragraphs 17-23 below). The GGB measures the fiscal
performance of all arms of Government (other than commercial
State-sponsored bodies), including Central Government, Local
Government and non-commercial State-sponsored bodies, as
well as extra-budgetary funds such as the Social Insurance Fund
and National Pensions Reserve Fund, which are managed by
agents of Government. The GGB thus provides an assessment
of the fiscal performance of a more complete Government
sector.
9. The Financial Statement of the Minister for Finance sets
specific targets for the overall budgetary aggregates, subject to
the approval in due course by the Dáil of Financial Resolutions
(see Paragraph 10 below on taxation resolutions), the Finance
Bill (see Section B1.2.10 and Paragraph 11 below) and the
Estimates (see Section B1.1).
PFP 11/08