Research on Social Sciences absorbed 36.7 per cent of total general government expenditure on R&D in 2005, the National Statistics Office said yesterday. According to the results of a survey on Research and Development (R&D) activity of General Government for the years 2004 and 2005, total R&D expenditure in the general government sector was highest in the field of social sciences, with a share of almost 37 per cent of total expenditure. All of this expenditure was effected by the Extra Budgetary Units (EBUs).

Looking at expenditure on R&D by sources of funds, for both years, the EBU sub-sector benefited from a broader inflow of funds compared to Central Government, which was exclusively financed by own funds. The most substantial source of funding for the EBU sub-sector was General University Funds. This funding accounted for 74 per cent and 65 per cent of total funding respectively for 2004 and 2005. There was an increase in foreign sources of funds in 2005, which accounted for 23 per cent of the total for the year.