General Government surplus up by €245 mn from January until June

General Government surplus increased by €245 mn from January until June 2019, the Statistical Service said on Wednesday.
 
Preliminary fiscal results indicate a surplus of €572,3mn or 2.6% of GDP compared with a surplus of €326,9mn for the corresponding period of 2018 or 1.6% of GDP, said Cystat.
  
Total expenditure for the first six months of 2019 recorded an increase of €197,0mn (+5.9%) compared with the same period of 2018 and reached 3.532,8mn (€3.335,8mn in 2018).
 
The compensation of employees (including imputed social contributions and pensions of civil servants) recorded the biggest increase (€104,9mn or 9.5%) and reached €1.210,5mn in January-June 2019 compared with €1.105,6mn in January-June 2018.
 
Social benefits also recorded a considerable increase due to the inclusion of the Health Insurance Organisation in General Government (€80,5mn or 6.1%) and reached €1.393,8mn compared with €1.313,3mn in 2018.
 
Intermediate consumption increased by €55,4mn and reached €360,6mn for the first half of 2019 as compared to €305,2mn in the corresponding period of last year. Current transfers recorded an increased expenditure (by €34,0mn) and reached €263,6mn (compared with €229,6mn in 2018).
 
A smaller increase was recorded by subsidies, which increased by €1,5mn to reach €21,6mn compared with €20,1mn in January-June 2018.
 
A decrease was also recorded for the expenditure categories that concern capital. Investment was reduced by €64,3mn and was confined to €73,3mn compared with €137,6mn in the period of January-June 2018. Excluding land annexations, that are included in investment, a decrease of €60,5mn is observed (€56,0mn in 2019 compared with €116,5mn in 2018). Furthermore, capital transfers also decreased (by €2,9mn) and totaled €19,9mn (€22,8mn in 2018).
 
Finally, payable interest recorded a decrease of €12,1mn and was reduced to €189,5mn compared with €201,6mn in 2018.

Total revenue increased by 12.1%, that is €442,4mn, to reach €4.105,1mn during the period of January-June 2019 (€3.662,7mn in the corresponding period of 2018).
 
Social contributions collected by the State during the first half of 2019 increased significantly due to the inclusion of the Health Insurance Organisation in General Government (by €248,7mn) to total €1.142,0mn (€893,3mn in the first half of 2018).
 
Capital transfers received by the State reached €141,3mn, an increase of €82,9 mn, compared with €58,4 mn received during the same period in 2018.
 
Revenue from taxes on income and wealth also increased significantly (by €78,8mn) and reached €802,7mn in the first six months of 2019 compared with €723,9mn in the corresponding period of 2018. Property income recorded a €24,0mn increase to reach €92,0mn during the period of January-June 2019 (compared with €68,0mn in January-June 2018).
 
A more confined increase was recorded by the revenue received from taxes on production and imports, which increased by €11,9 mn to reach €1.579,3mn, compared with the €1.567,4mn received in 2018. However, net VAT revenue (that is included in this category) registered an increase of €35,2mn and reached €1.017,4mn in 2019, compared with €982,2mn in 2018.
 
Revenue for the sale of goods and services also increased (by €10,2mn) and reached €265,7mn in 2019 compared with €255,5 mn in 2018.
 
On the contrary, current transfers received were decreased by €14,1mn and were confined to €82,1mn during the period of January-June 2019.