Press Statement

Preasráiteas

20 January 2021

Go to release: Government Finance Statistics Quarter 3 2020

The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has today (20 January 2021) released Government Finance Statistics Quarterly Results, Quarter 3 2020.

Commenting on the release, Tom Fitzgerald, Statistician, said: “When comparing Q3 2020 to Q2 2020, we can see total government revenue at €19.6 billion, down €1.5 billion or 7.2% on Q2 2020. This decrease was mainly due to a €3 billion falloff in direct taxes (income tax and corporation tax) which outweighed an increase in indirect taxes of €1.8 billion.

We can also see that total government expenditure for Q3 2020 was €27 billion, down €284 million on Q2 2020, a decrease of 1%. The main driver behind this decrease was a reduction in payments of the Pandemic Unemployment Payment (PUP), the Temporary Wage Subsidy Scheme (TWSS) and the Employment Wage Subsidy Scheme (EWSS). PUP payments were down from €2.5 billion in Q2 2020 to €1.1 billion in Q3 2020, while TWSS/EWSS payments also decreased from €1.7 billion in Q2 2020 to €1.3 billion in Q3 2020.”

When comparing the first nine months of 2019 to the first nine months of 2020, Tom Fitzgerald further commented: “Government expenditure for the first nine months of 2020 was up €11.8 billion compared to the same period in 2019, an increase of 18.5%, while Government income dropped by €3.1 billion a decrease of 5.1%.

Tax revenue for the year to Q3 2020 was down by €2.2 billion or 4.9%, primarily due to a €3.3 billion (15.7%) decrease in indirect taxes (which includes VAT). However, direct taxes (including income tax and corporation tax) showed an increase of €1.1 billion or 4.7%.

We can see the increase in expenditure was due to COVID-19-related supports such as the TWSS and the PUP, increased spending on goods and services along with increased expenditure on gross fixed capital formation.”

Enquiries:

Please email Tom Fitzgerald

gfs@cso.ie

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