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Macroeconomic Policyture levels are also affected by other factors, such as whether or notbenefits are subject to tax as well as varying reliance on taxexpenditures. Social protection expenditure in the form of taxexpenditures is not included in the figures quoted above; this has asignificant impact on the Irish figures as the Irish reliance on taxexpenditures in pensions and other areas is relatively high.5.2.2 Previous Fiscal Policy RecommendationsThe Council’s recommendations in the 1999 Strategy report onfiscal policy were as follows:●●●●Policy should aim to maintain substantial budget surpluses closeto present levels, while growth remains strong;Over the three years to 2002, the increase in current publicexpenditure should at a maximum, correspond to growth ofGNP;In relation to capital expenditure, the Council supported a majorconstruction programme of physical infrastructure includingaccelerated development of the national road and publictransport system and a significant increase in the housing stock;the Council welcomed the broad thrust of the NationalDevelopment Plan (NDP);The tax share of GNP should be kept close to existing levels;and● The Council recommended reform of the public service paydetermination system.The surplus as measured by the General Government Balance(GGB) was 2.3 per cent of GDP in 1999. It then increased to 4.4 percent of GDP in 2000 and has since fallen sharply to an estimateddeficit of 0.1 per cent of GDP in 2002. Some decline in the size ofthe surplus was warranted given the slowdown of growth in theeconomy. However, a large part of the turnaround from a substantialsurplus to a marginal deficit is not attributable to the slowdown ingrowth that has occurred.199