articles | 29 October 2018

General Government surplus at 3.7% of GDP

Cyprus recorded a General Government surplus of € 769.7m or 3.7% of GDP, in the period January-September 2018, according to data released by the Statistical Service of Cyprus.

The surplus in the corresponding period of 2017 was (2.2% of GDP) or €431.2 million for the corresponding period of 2017.

Expenditure up 2.4%

Total expenditure for the period of January-September 2018 recorded an increase of €117.2 mn (2.4%) as compared to the corresponding period of 2017 and reached €5,056.6 mn (€4,939.4 mn in 2017).

Social benefits increased by €55.5 mn (3.0%) to reach €1,918.9 mn (€1,863.4 mn in 2017) while the compensation of employees (including imputed social contributions and pensions of civil servants) registered an increase of €53.0 mn (+3.3%) to reach €1,678.1 mn (as opposed to €1,625.1 mn in 2017). Intermediate consumption increased by €30.7 mn (6.8%) to reach €479.9 mn (€449.2 mn in 2017).

Investment exhibited an increase of €12.6 mn to reach €227.8 mn. Excluding land annexations, that are included in investment, the increase reached €17.5 mn (€197.9 mn in 2018 as compared to €180.4 mn in 2017). Subsidies also recorded an increase of €2.6 mn and reached €30.3 mn. Finally capital transfers increased by €0.8 mn to reach €35.5 mn (€34.7 mn in 2017).

The two remaining expenditure categories recorded a decrease; payable interest decreased by €37.8 mn thus registering an expenditure of €356.6 mn, and current transfers decreased slightly by €0.2 mn and recorded an expenditure of €330.5 mn.

Revenue up 8.5%

Total revenue increased by 8.5%, that is €455.7 mn, to total €5,826.3 mn during the period of January-September 2018 (€5,370.6 mn in the corresponding period of 2017).

All revenue categories, except from the categories of property income and current transfers, exhibited an increase during this period.

Specifically, taxes on production and imports registered a 12.0% increase from 2017, that is an increase of €260.2 mn (€2,422.1 mn in 2018 as opposed to €2,161.9 mn in 2017), of which net VAT revenue increased by 19.5%, which corresponds to €247.6 mn, and reached a total of €1,517.5 mn (in comparison to €1,269.9 mn in 2017).

Social contributions collected during this period increased by 9.3% (or €113.9 mn) and reached €1,338.2 mn (as compared to €1,224.3 mn in January-September 2017). Taxes on income and wealth increased by €64.1 mn (5.0%) and reached €1,356.4 mn during the first nine-month period of 2018 in comparison to €1,292.3 mn in 2017, while revenue from the sale of goods and services increased by €32.4 mn and totalled €408.4 mn. Capital transfers received by the State increased by €19.6 mn and reached €87.0 mn.

Finally, property income recorded a decrease and was reduced to €72.7 mn during the period of January-September 2018 (€107.0 mn in 2017). Current transfers received decreased slightly by €0.2 mn and totalled €141.5 mn.

Source: InCyprus

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