The primary surplus as a percentage of GDP is expected to increase from 1.5 per cent this year to 2.1 per cent in 2017, reaching 3.4 per cent at the end of the forecasting horizon, representing a downward revision of about 0.4 percentage points per year on average compared with last April’s estimates.
This applies in particular to the weak implementation of policy recommendations, the inadequacy of enforcement measures taken to discourage or correct deficit infringements, and the insufficient recognition by national policy-makers of the need to ensure mutual consistency between national policies in a monetary union, especially with regard to the issue of competitiveness.