Section B – The Financial Framework - Government Accounting

B4 – The Budget
18. Under the provisions of the Pact, euro-area member states
outline their medium term budgetary strategy in stability
programmes, which are updated annually and submitted to the
EU Commission and the Council. Ireland’s Stability Programme
Update is normally prepared with the Budget and submitted on
Budget day.
19. The Council examines the programme of each member state and
delivers an opinion, which may suggest policy action to be
taken by the country in question. The Minister for Finance
conveys the Council Opinion to the Dáil Select Committee on
Finance and the Public Service in the context of his/her
appearance before the Committee in relation to the Annual
Estimates and Output Statements and the medium term
economic and budgetary projections of the stability programme
(See Sections A3.2.6-8)
General Government Balance (GGB)
20. 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. The
GGB measures the fiscal performance of all arms of
Government (other than commercial State-sponsored bodies),
including Central Government, Local Government and noncommercial
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. Whereas the
Exchequer Balance (also referred to as the Exchequer
Borrowing Requirement (EBR)) measures the cashflow balance
of the Central Fund, representing the difference between the
receipts and payments recorded on the Exchequer Account, the
General Government Balance measures the balance between the
income and outlays of a widely-defined Government sector,
which excludes only the commercial semi-State bodies. The
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