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General Government's deficit at €277,4mn in Q4 2019

30/04/2020 09:04

The General Government`s deficit increased by € 104.4 million in the fourth quarter of 2019 on an annual basis, the Cyprus Statistical Service announced on Wednesday.

On the basis of the preliminary data on the General Government accounts for October-December 2019, which are compiled in accordance to EU concepts and definitions (ESA 2010), total revenue amounted €2,534.9mn, while total expenditure reached €2,812.3mn, resulting in a deficit of €277.4mn, as compared to a deficit of €173.0mn in the corresponding period of the previous year.

The main categories of revenue for the period October-December 2019 were: taxes on production and imports €792.6mn (2,5% decrease as compared to the fourth quarter of 2018), of which net VAT was €471.1mn (4.5% decrease, which is attributed to the payment of tax arrears to the Government, from €188mn in 2018 to €118mn in 2019), taxes on income and wealth €581.8mn (2.9% increase), and social contributions €638.3mn (25,6% increase). Revenue from the sale of goods and services reached €330.0mn registering an increase of 33.3% as compared to the corresponding period of the previous year.

The main categories of expenditure for the period October-December 2019 were: social transfers €856.6mn (8.4% increase compared to the corresponding period of 2018) and compensation of employees (including imputed social contributions and pensions of civil servants) €877.2mn (10.0% increase). The capital account recorded an expenditure of €234.1mn (€204.0mn investment and €30.1mn capital transfers) as compared to €305.5mn during the corresponding period of 2018 (€277.5mn investment and €28.0mn capital transfers) registering a decrease of 23.4%. Intermediate consumption reached €476.8mn (52.9% increase as compared to the corresponding period of the previous year).

Increased amounts in specific categories of revenue and expenditure are partly attributed to the implementation of the National Health System as of 01.03.2019.

Annual Fiscal Balance

After the completion of the fourth quarter of fiscal accounts, the annual fiscal balance exhibited a surplus of €380.4mn, which corresponds to 1.7% of GDP. Total expenditure decreased by 5.6% (€8,667.0mn) and total revenue increased by 7.6% (€9,047.4mn) as compared to 2018.