Government registers €392.7 million surplus in 2017

Government registers €392.7 million surplus in 2017 – NSO

Monday, 22 October 2018, 11:11 Last update: about 6 years ago

In 2017, the General Government registered a surplus of €392.7 million, equivalent to 3.5 per cent of GDP, the NSO said today.

The gross consolidated debt amounted to €5,670.6 million or 50.9 per cent of GDP.

The General Government registered a surplus of €392.7 million in 2017, an increase of €296.3 million over the previous year.

The balance is calculated as the difference between the total revenue (€4,424.0 million) and expenditure (€4,031.3 million) of General Government. Comparing 2017 over 2016, total revenue increased by €554.3 million, while total expenditure increased by €257.9 million.

When measured as a percentage of GDP, the General Government balance was equivalent to a surplus of 3.5 per cent, an increase of 2.6 percentage points when compared to the surplus of 0.9 per cent that was registered in 2016. The General Government nominal gross consolidated debt decreased by €64.3 million to €5,670.6 million over 2016.

Together with a higher level of GDP, the debt-to-GDP ratio for 2017 fell to 50.9 per cent. 2017 data In order to arrive at the General Government Sector’s positive balance of €392.7 million, adjustments are made to the balance of the Government’s Consolidated Fund (NSO news release 51/2018), which registered a surplus of €182.7 million – an increase over the €8.9 million recorded in 2016. The adjustments are necessary to shift from the Government’s Consolidated Fund into an accruals-based exercise compiled in line with established methodology. The adjustments also take into consideration the Extra Budgetary Units (EBUs) which are classified within the General Government Sector, as well as the Local Government Sector.

One major positive adjustment is the net lending (or surplus) recorded by Extra Budgetary Units (EBU) of €196.7 million, an increase of €23.9 million over 2016. The EBU registering the highest surplus was the National Development and Social Fund (NDSF) with €171.7 million, constituting 70 per cent of the contributions under the Individual Investor Programme (IIP). Other positive adjustments to the Government’s consolidated fund include the TCF flows in nonfi nancial transactions (€37.2 million), as well as the time-adjusted cash transactions (€35.2 million). In contrast, the main negative adjustments include the ‘other accounts receivable and payable’ (€58.7 million) and other fi nancial transactions (€11.5 million).