General Government surplus stood at €250,6 mn or 1.2% of GDP in the first two months of the year compared to a surplus of €133,0 mn or 0.7% of GDP in the same period of 2017, the Statistical Service reported on Friday.
The preliminary General Government fiscal results showed that total expenditure between January-February 2018 recorded grew by €28,9 mn or 3.0%, compared to the same period last year and reached €1.008,2 mn, from €979,3 mn in 2017.
The compensation of employees (including imputed social contributions and pensions of civil servants) increased by €18,8 mn (5.4%) to reach €366,8 mn (€348,0 mn in 2017), while intermediate consumption increased by €12,5 mn to reach €81,3 mn in comparison to €68,8 mn during the corresponding period last year.
Social benefits registered an increase of €10,4 mn (2.7%) and stood at €397,0 mn from €386,6 mn in 2017, while a small increase was also recorded in capital transfers that reached €5,1 mn.
Payable interest shrunk by €10,2 mn to €53,2 mn compared to €63,4 mn which was the interest paid during the corresponding months of the previous year.
A slight decrease was also recorded in investments that declined by €2,5 mn to €21,4 mn from €23,9 mn in the same period of 2017. Excluding land annexations, that are included in investments, this decrease is reduced to €0,7 mn. Current transfers recorded a slight annual decrease of €1,0 mn and fell to €79,1 mn.
Subsidies remained constant at €4,3 mn.
Total revenue increased by 13.2% or €146,5 mn, to total €1.258,8 mn in the first two months of 2018, from €1.112,3 mn in the corresponding months of 2017.
All revenue categories apart from property income exhibited an increase between January-February 2018.
More specifically, taxes on production and imports registered a 16.4% increase, that is an increase of €72,3 mn and stood at €513,0 mn in 2018 from to €440,7 mn in 2017, of which net VAT revenue increased by 28.3%, which corresponds to €70,3 mn, and reached a total of €319,0 mn, against €248,7 mn last year.
Revenue from taxes on income and wealth increased by €45,7 mn or 17.0% and reached €315,0 mn during the first two months of 2018 compared to €269,3 mn in 2017, while social contributions collected during the same period were up by 9.6% or €27,9 mn and stood at €318,4 mn, compared to €290,5 mn in January-February 2017.
Revenue from sale of goods and services grew by €5,6 mn or 8,3% and totalled €73,4 mn. Current transfers received increased by €2,5 mn and reached €32,6 mn.
Property income, the only category that showed a decrease, reached €4,0 mn during the first two months of 2018, a €9,2 mn decrease compared to the corresponding period of 2017.