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General Government posts surplus of 3,8% in first eleven months

31/12/2018 15:28

The General Government recorded a surplus of €779,6 mn or 3,8% of GDP between January and November 2018, compared to a surplus of €477,1 mn in the same period of 2017 or 2,4% of GDP, according to the preliminary fiscal results announced by the Statistical Service of Cyprus (CYSTAT) on Monday.

Expenditure

Cystat reported that the total expenditure between January-November 2018 recorded an increase of €210,6 mn (+3,5%) as compared to the corresponding period of 2017 and reached €6.285,3 mn (€6.074,7 mn in 2017).

Social benefits increased by €90,7 mn (+4,0%) to reach €2.355,3 mn (€2.264,6 mn in 2017) while the compensation of employees (including imputed social contributions and pensions of civil servants) registered an increase of €63,7 mn (+3,2%) to reach €2.066,0 mn (as opposed to €2.002,3 mn in 2017). Intermediate consumption increased by €59,4 mn (+10,3%) to reach €636,2 mn (€576,8 mn in 2017).

Subsidies registered a €14,0 mn increase, recording an expenditure of €47,1 mn and current transfers increased by €8,6 mn to reach €408,5 mn (€399,9 mn in 2017), while capital transfers exhibited a marginal increase of €0,2 mn to reach €45,9 mn.

On the other hand, payable interest recorded a decrease of €25,9 mn to total €431,4 mn (€457,3 mn in 2017), while investment remained at the same level as 2017 at €294,9 mn (€295,0 mn in 2017). Excluding land annexations, that are included in investment, an increase of €12,9 mn is observed (€254,2 mn in 2018 as compared to €241,3 mn in 2017).

Revenue

According to the Statistical Service, the total revenue increased by 7,8%, that is €513,1 mn, to total €7.064,9 mn during the period of January-November 2018 (€6.551,8 mn in the corresponding period of 2017).

All revenue categories except that of property income exhibited an increase during this period.

Specifically, taxes on production and imports registered an 8,7% increase from 2017, that is an increase of €236,7 mn (€2.969,0 mn in 2018 as opposed to €2.732,3 mn in 2017), of which net VAT revenue increased by 13,6%, which corresponds to €223,1 mn, and reached a total of €1.862,4 mn (in comparison to €1.639,3 mn in 2017).

Social contributions collected during this period increased by 8,9% (or €135,3 mn) and reached €1.656,5 mn (as compared to €1.521,2 mn in January-November 2017). Taxes on income and wealth increased by €78,1 mn (5,3%) and reached €1.547,0 mn during the first eleven months of 2018 in comparison to €1.468,9 mn in 2017, while revenue from the sale of goods and services increased by €57,1 mn and totalled €533,2 mn. Capital transfers received by the State increased by €25,9 mn and reached €97,7 mn. Finally, current transfers received increased by €15,2 mn to reach €188,0 mn.

The only revenue category that recorded a decrease during the period of January-November 2018, that of property income, was reduced to €73,5 mn (€108,7 mn in 2017).