Ireland lays out post-bailout blueprint to cut debt
Ireland's Prime Minister Kenny arrives at a news conference at the end of a EU leaders summit in Brussels
DUBLIN (Reuters) - Ireland laid out a fiscal blueprint for the next seven years on Tuesday to confirm its bailout exit and show that its economy can grow enough to cut its debt by a quarter by the end of the decade.
Dublin has turned down a backup credit line with enough debt-market funding to cover costs until 2015. Now it is keen to prove to investors that it will maintain its fiscal rigor, while offering hope to the austerity-weary that the worst is over.
"It is about staying the course. It is a roadmap for the Irish economy," Prime Minister Enda Kenny told a news conference. "It will provide certainty for the Irish people and for investors in our country."
Last week, Ireland became the first euro zone member to successfully complete a bailout, after three years of monitoring by the European Union and International Monetary Fund. EU leaders say that proved their policy of austerity is working.
"The Irish people have made a lot of sacrifices to ensure Ireland's recovery," Kenny said. "We will ensure that the mistakes of the past won't be repeated."
The government maintained gross domestic product forecasts of 0.2 percent this year and 2 percent next. It said growth would exceed 3 percent between 2017 and 2020 - the first time it has forecast out that far - and that it would cut its debt to 93 percent of GDP in 2020 from a peak of 124 percent this year.
Tuesday's plan showed the next budget, where tax hikes and spending cuts of 2 billion euros have been penciled in, would be the last round of an austerity drive that began in 2008 and will have amounted to 20 percent of annual output.
Finance Minister Michael Noonan told Reuters in an interview on Monday that higher-than-forecast tax revenues this year should enable it to beat its budget deficit target and is likely to leave room to ease austerity in next year's budget.
There are signs the economy is picking up steam - the jobless rate has fallen to 12.5 percent from a 15.1 percent peak in 2012. The government forecast on Tuesday that the unemployment rate would fall to 8.1 percent by 2020.
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