Originally Posted by patslatt

Is there a conspiracy on the political left to quote government spending figures as a percent of GDP to make Ireland's spending look small in international comparisons? I heard a trade union leader GDPee on the radio this morning.

GDP in Ireland's case is inflated compared to other countries by about 15% due to multinational financial transfers. So if the percent of GDP for a government service is say 10%,to convert that to percent of GNP, the rough adjustment is 10/(100/1.15) = 11.5%.