It was gloomier than the Darling Treasury had been about the size of Britain's structural budget deficit.
The government wants to wipe out the structural budget deficit by 2015, but analysts say this is unlikely.
That is a larger structural budget hole than any of the troubled eurozone economies, including Portugal and Greece.
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The federal government can, and should, run a structural budget deficit in perpetuity.
The data shows that periods in which the structural budget deficits have increased are generally associated with economic weakness and vice versa.
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America's structural budget deficit will soon be bigger than that of any other OECD member, and the country badly needs a plan to deal with it.
Then, there is the emphasis the commission is now placing on the so-called structural budget deficit, a measure designed to express the underlying strength or weakness of the budget that irons out the impact of swings in growth.
The European Commission has said it is focusing more on "structural" budget deficits which means it won't demand more cuts from governments if their failure to meet budget targets is caused by weaker-than-expected growth.
For example, if the structural primary balance (budget balance excluding debt interest) in 2015-16 turns out to be only one percentage point better than the OBR now expects, our public sector debt would now be on a long term sustainable path.
It is true that Greece can survive within the euro only with a gruelling downward adjustment of wages and prices, which demands painful budget cuts and structural reforms.
For Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, the answer is to show that the single currency is backed by the commitment of all members to budget discipline and structural reform.
Italians voted for change, an alternative to the budget austerity and "structural reforms" backed by the euro-zone authorities.
It has a big budget deficit and deep structural problems (more than half of Portuguese adults left school at the minimum leaving age).
It is shifting its main focus away from the budget andtoward making sure structural changes, such as an overhaul of Greece's labor market, are put in place.
Of that figure, 4.8% is the structural deficit that George Osborne's Budget is intended to tackle.
While pressure has been mounting on Rajoy and his cabinet, the Spanish Prime Minister has been working on a new structural reform package with Brussels and a 2013 Budget.
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As a result, Mr. Osborne now doesn't expect to eliminate the structural deficit, which the independent Office for Budget Responsibility has helpfully now decided is much smaller than previously assumed, until 2018, three years later than planned.
Nor do we expect pro-growth structural reforms such as repeal of the 1974 budget and impoundment act, the line item veto, pay-go rules to require spending cuts to offset proposed spending increases, scoring reform, or a super-majority vote to pass new entitlements.
Samaras narrowly passed a Troika-inspired set of tough structural reforms last week and pushed through an austerity budget on Sunday.
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While Mr. Brown deserves credit for some earlier spending cuts to reduce a large inherited budget shortfall, the budget fails to address long-run structural problems, counting on a cyclical economic recovery and stock bubble for a bailout until the next self-inflicted crisis.
"Any delay in agreeing this budget and any cuts to either Cap or structural funds would not be in Wales' best interests, " he said.
The target measure was structural borrowing for current spending (the "cyclically adjusted current budget balance").
Another longer-term structural black cloud looming over the U.S. Treasury market remains the huge budget deficit.
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Yet his government, facing an election by May next year, still found it easier in last month's budget to throw money at farmers rather than continuing the fight for difficult structural reforms that might help them find something else to do.
The Spanish government, headed by PM Marian Rajoy, will unveil its 2013 budget on Friday, and is also expected to announce a new package of structural reforms, and the final stress test of Spanish banks.
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When he wrote his Budget, Mr Osborne thought that three years of austerity would more than halve the structural current deficit, from 4.8% of GDP to just 1.9%.
The fact that Democrats have no budget or plan to attack the deficit simply confirms CEO suspicion that this government will not address structural deficit issues.
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More detailed spending plans are expected in the autumn, but as Brussels braces itself for a year of tough budget negotiations, what could this mean for billions of pounds of EU payments to farming communities and structural funding for the poorest parts of Wales?
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