Download - Six-Pack, Two-Pack and the Fiscal Compact
The Six-Pack, Two-Pack and the Fiscal Compact
Some implications for Ireland
What are they?
Six Pack:
• 5 Council Regulations and 1 Directive (In force)
Two Pack:
• 2 Council Regulations (In draft)
Fiscal Compact:
• Title III of the Treaty on Stability, Coordination and Governance (In ratification)
EU Economic Policy
• Articles 120 to 126 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU)- Part III Title VII Chapter I
• Maastricht Convergence Criteria:
The reference values referred to in [.] this Treaty are:
– 3% for the ratio of the planned or actual government deficit to gross domestic product at market prices;
– 60% for the ratio of government debt to gross domestic product at market prices.
The Stability and Growth Pact (1997)
Two Council Regulations were agreed in Dublin in early 1997 and they set out the EU approach to fiscal management and how it would operate in the common currency
1. The ‘Preventative’ Arm
– Council Regulation 1466/1997
2. The ‘Corrective’ Arm
– Council Regulation 1467/1997
The Balanced-Budget Rule
From the ‘Preventative’ Arm (1997)
Countries shall set out:
(a) the medium-term objective for the budgetary position of close to balance or in surplus and the adjustment path towards this objective for the general government surplus/deficit
Deficits in EMU
Revised Balanced-Budget Rule
Council Regulation 1055/2005:
Taking these factors into account, for Member States that have adopted the euro and for ERM2 Member States the country-specific medium-term budgetary objectives shall be specified within a defined range between – 1 % of GDP and balance or surplus, in cyclically adjusted terms, net of one-off and temporary measures.
Medium Term Budget Objectives
• “The underlying (structural) budget balance […] respects the terms of the Stability and Growth Pact, and is consistent with a medium-term objective of keeping the budget close to balance”
Ireland, Stability Programme Update, December 2005
• “There is an obligation to make annual improvements of 0.5 per cent of GDP towards structural balance after the excessive deficit has been corrected.”
Ireland, Stability Programme Update, December 2009
• “In the Irish case, the findings suggest an MTO of -½ per cent of GDP”
Ireland, Stability Programme Update, April 2010
The Structural Balance
The structural budget balance refers to the general government cyclically adjusted balance adjusted for once-off elements beyond the economic cycle.
The cyclically adjusted balance is the fiscal balance adjusted for the effects of the economic cycle.
SB = B – CB – OOM
CB = a.OG
A measure of the difference between the actual output of an economy and the potential output it could achieve when it is most efficient, or at full capacity.
-.1
-.05
0
.05
.1
Gro
wth
Ra
te
1971 1975 1979 1983 1987 1991 1995 1999 2003 2007 2011 Source: CSO
Growth in Irish Real GDP 1971 to 2010
Economic Growth
-.1
-.05
0
.05
.1
Gro
wth
Ra
te
1971 1975 1979 1983 1987 1991 1995 1999 2003 2007 2011 Source: CSO
Growth in Irish Real GDP 1971 to 2010
Economic Growth
-.1
-.05
0
.05
.1
Gro
wth
Ra
te
1971 1975 1979 1983 1987 1991 1995 1999 2003 2007 2011 Source: CSO
Growth in Irish Real GDP 1971 to 2010
Economic Growth
-.1
-.05
0
.05
.1
Gro
wth
Ra
te
1971 1975 1979 1983 1987 1991 1995 1999 2003 2007 2011 Source: CSO
Growth in Irish Real GDP 1971 to 2010
Economic Growth
-6
-3
0
3
6
9
12
Gro
wth
Ra
te
1994 1997 2000 2003 2006 2009 2012
OECD
IMF
EC
Source: CSO
Deviations of actual GDP from potential GDP as a per cent of potential GDP
Output Gaps
-15
-10
-5
0
5
Pe
rcen
t
2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 Source: IMF, World Economic Outlook
Structural Budget Balance, % GDP
Structural Balances
IMF 2007
IMF 2011
-15
-10
-5
0
5
Pe
rcen
t
2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 Source: IMF, World Economic Outlook
Structural Budget Balance, % GDP
Structural Balances
IMF 2007
IMF 2011
Composition of Budget Balance
-.06
-.03
0
.03
Gro
wth
Ra
te, P
rop
ort
ion
of G
DP
0 5 10 15 20 25
Deficit Structural Output Gap
Pattern of Budget Deficits under Structural Deficit Rule
Budget Deficits
Achieving the Structural Deficit Target
Council Regulation 1055/2011:
The Council, when assessing the adjustment path toward the medium-term budgetary objective, shall examine if the Member State concerned pursues the annual improvement of its cyclically-adjusted balance, net of one-off and other temporary measures, required to meet its medium-term budgetary objective, with 0,5 % of GDP as a benchmark.
The Council shall take into account whether a higher adjustment effort is made in economic good times, whereas the effort may be more limited in economic bad times.
The 60% of GDP Debt Limit
From Article 126 of the TFEU:
the ratio of government debt to gross domestic product exceeds a reference value, unless the ratio is sufficiently diminishing and approaching the reference value at a satisfactory pace.
Government Debt in EMU
The Numerical Debt Reduction Benchmark
The Six Pack introduces numerical benchmark for what will we deemed a “satisfactory pace” of debt reduction.
The is the “one-twentieth” rule:
Countries should reduce the excess of the debt ratio over the reference value at an average of one-twentieth per year as a minimum.
Can Ireland comply with the Debt Brake?
What is not in the Fiscal Compact?
1. Government Expenditure Rule:
- Council Regulation 1175/2011
2. Macroeconomic Imbalance Procedure:
- Council Regulation 1174/2011
- Council Regulation 1176/2011
Government Expenditure Rule
… “for Member States that have achieved their medium- term budgetary objective, annual expenditure growth does not exceed a reference medium-term rate of potential GDP growth, unless the excess is matched by discretionary revenue measures;”
Macroeconomic Imbalance Scorecard
Conclusion
• Six-Pack Directive:– Put (some of) the SGP fiscal rules into national law
• Six-Pack Regulations:– Increased monitoring of balanced-budget rule and increased
involvement with EDP countries to correct excessive deficits
– Allow entry to EDP because of non-reducing debt ratio (1/20th rule)
– Establish Macroeconomic Imbalance Procedure and Government Expenditure Rule
• Two-Pack Regulations:– Further increased monitoring and surveillance of EDP and ‘Programme’
countries
– Establish ‘independent’ fiscal council
• Fiscal Compact:– Introduced because countries would not follow Germany and put ‘debt
brake’ into national constitutions.
– Would the Fiscal Compact have prevented the crisis?
– Will the Fiscal Compact solve the crisis?
Aggregate Eurozone Budget Balances
Year Overall Deficit Structural Deficit2007 -0.6% -1.7%2008 -0.6% -2.4%2009 -6.3% -4.3%2010 -6.0% -4.0%2011 -4.3% -3.0%2012 -3.5% -2.6%