EU urges Britain to meet deficit target in two years

Britain was asked to meet the deficit target set by the European Union (EU) in two years, the EU's finance ministers said on Friday.

Due to its insufficient measures, Britain had missed a deadline set for reducing its deficit below 3 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2014-15, EU's reference value for government deficits, according to a monthly meeting of EU's finance ministers held here.

The nominal budget deficit of Britain marked a declining trend recent years. After peaking in 2009-10, the figure fell to 7.7 percent of GDP in 2011 12, then to 7.6 percent in 2012-13, 5.9 percent in 2013-14 and 5.2 percent in 2014-15.

Britain's general government gross debt has remained continuously above 60 percent of GDP, the EU's reference value for government debt.

The EU extended the deadline for two years, recommending deficit targets of 4.1 percent of GDP in 2015-16 and 2.7 percent of GDP in 2016-17.

These should be consistent with an improvement in the structural balance of 0.5 percent of GDP in 2015-16 and 1.1 percent in 2016-17, according to the statement released after EU finance ministers' monthly meeting in Luxembourg.

The deadline for Britain to meet its deficit targets has been extended several times. As Britain is not a member of the euro area, it cannot face sanctions under the excessive deficit procedure, added the EU. Endit