Government surplus of €50m in 2018, new CSO figures show
The Government surplus stood at €50m in 2018, new figures from the Central Statistics Office show today.
This represents 0.01% of GDP and compares to a deficit of €83m in 2017, or 28% of GDP.
The CSO said that Government revenues increased by 7.2% to €82 billion last year with government expenditures increasing by 6% to €82 billion.
The main driver of the increase in Government revenues was an 8.2% rise in taxes. Social contributions also rose by 5.8%, while sales of goods and services increased by 5.9%.
But the CSO said that investment income decreased markedly – with a fall of 26.8% – between 2017 and 2018.
On the expenditure side, the CSO noted pay increases of 7.5%, while social benefits rose by 2.5% and use of goods and services grew by 10%.
Debt services costs, or interest, decreased by €0.57 billion, or 9.9%, the CSO added.
Central government collected €78 billion, or 95%, of total revenue in 2018, today’s figures also show.
The rest was generated by local government in the form of commercial rates, social housing rents and other capital transfers.
In a separate set of figures, the CSO said the Government recorded a deficit of €1.8 billion (2.2% of quarterly GDP) in the first quarter of 2019.
Government revenue amounted to €18.7 billion in the first three months of the year, up from €17.8 billion the same time last year, and on the back of a 6.6% increase taxes and social contributions.
Government expenditure for the three month period rose by 4.8% to €20.5 billion.
The CSO said the rise was mainly due to higher wage bills, which rose by 4.8%, while use of goods and services was up 5.3% and social benefits increased by 3.5%.
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