Noonan must be wary of a giveaway budget

Later this month, Michael Noonan will deliver his inaugural Spring Statement. The

terms of reference for this new economic speech remain deliberately vague, but it is

clear that the finance minister will outline growth and deficit projections.

As outlined in this newspaper today, it is anticipated that Noonan will set a deficit

target of between 1 per cent and 1.5 per cent of GDP for 2016. Based on our

calculations, this would allow ...