The Fiscal Council has a mandate to endorse the macroeconomic forecasts underpinning each Budget and stability programme. [1]
To set out how each endorsement process is carried out, the Council and the Department of Finance have an agreed Memorandum of Understanding. [2]
An Endorsement Note gives an overview of some of the key aspects and discussions that took place during the course of an endorsement process. The Endorsement Note replaces the section that would previously have appeared, until June 2023, in the Macroeconomic Assessment chapter of the Council’s Fiscal Assessment Reports. The Council felt it would make for a more coherent discussion in the Fiscal Assessment Report to keep this part of the discussion separate so that the Fiscal Assessment Report could focus on more timely assessments of the macroeconomic environment.
Endorsement Notes
Endorsement of SPU 2024 macroeconomic forecasts, April 2024
Endorsement of Budget 2024 macroeconomic forecasts, December 2023
[1] This follows the agreement at European level on the Regulation on common provisions for monitoring and assessing draft budgetary plans and ensuring the correction of excessive deficit of the Member States in the euro area (EU Regulation No 473/2013), Ireland is required under Article 4.4 to have its national medium-term fiscal plans and draft budgets based on independent macroeconomic forecasts, which means macroeconomic forecasts produced or endorsed by an independent body. In Ireland’s case, this endorsement function is set out in the Fiscal Responsibility Acts 2012 and 2013 that entered into force on 23 July 2013. Under the Act, the Council as an independent body (as defined in Article 2.1.a of Regulation No 473/2013) has been assigned the endorsement function, and shall “endorse, as it considers appropriate, the macroeconomic forecasts prepared by the Department of Finance on which the Budget and stability programme will be based”.
[2] This sets out the timelines, data, and nature of interactions. It is available online at: https://www.fiscalcouncil.ie/about-the-council/.