This release comprises the latest official publication by CSO of annual Government Finance Statistics (GFS) and includes the first estimate for the year 2022.
The data published are consistent with the General Government Deficit and Debt levels reported to Eurostat under the EU regulation governing the Excessive Deficit Procedure (EDP). Consequently they may not always be fully aligned with the broader National Accounts and related publications such as the Institutional Sector Accounts, published by the CSO.
Eurostat will publish deficit and debt levels for all EU member states on 21 April 2023.
The tables provide detailed revenue, expenditure and balance sheet data for general government. These data are also available on CSO PxStat.
The full suite of GFS tables is also available on the CSO website.
Data for all EU Member States are available on Eurostat's database.
Today’s release includes updated estimates for 2019-2021. The two main reasons for the updates are the use of annual financial accounts data that was not available during previous compilation rounds, and, with a smaller effect, compositional changes reflecting the most recent version of the Register of Public Sector Bodies in Ireland, which is published today.
Cost of living energy credit
An Electricity Costs Emergency Benefit Scheme was introduced in March 2022 providing all domestic electricity customers in the State with an €200 credit which were paid in April. Later, in September 2022, the further scheme - Electricity Costs Emergency Benefit Scheme – was approved providing 3 additional payments of €200 to households. One payment was made in November/December 2022 with further payments in January/February and March/April 2023 (the timing of the credit on household bills will depend on the billing cycle). As the credit was universally available to all households it is classified as a current transfer in the statistical accounts.
Each payment is approximately €400 million in total. Thus €800 million expenditure is included as D.75 current transfers to households during 2022.
National Surplus Reserve Fund
In 2022 Government transferred €2,000 million from the Central Fund (Exchequer) to the National Surplus Reserve Fund. This transfer is treated as a financial transaction (cash assets moved from one account of Government to another) and had no impact on the general government balance.
Super dividend
In Q2 2022 the Central Bank of Ireland transferred its surplus income to the Exchequer. Of the amount received, €1,019 million was classified as a super dividend which does not benefit the general government balance, but rather is treated as a financial transaction (withdrawal of equity).
The GDP figures used in this publication are consistent with those published in the Quarterly National Accounts published on 3 March 2023.
Modified Gross National Income (GNI*) is equal to Gross National Income at current market prices less the factor income of redomiciled companies, less depreciation on research and development related intellectual property imports and less depreciation on aircraft related to aircraft leasing.
Every effort is taken to ensure that the GFS data and other national accounts data, in particular the Institutional Sector Accounts (ISA), are aligned. However due to the timing of when revisions are incorporated and the publication of the ISA prior to the completion of the EDP clarification process significant divergences in the series may occur, albeit on a temporary basis.
In this instance, towards the end of the clarification process Eurostat requested further detail regarding the CSO’s classification of the Defective Concrete Blocks Grant Scheme. The scheme, which was legislated for in 2022, provides redress to households whose homes were subject to structural issues due to mica or pyrite. In accordance with the CSO’s application of the statistical rules and other similar commitments in the past, the full estimated amount of €2.7 billion was included in the quarterly Government Finance Statistics as expenditure in Q2 2022, which coincided with the Government’s recognition of the commitment. In light of the scale of the expenditure (c. 0.5 per cent of GDP) Eurostat and CSO engaged in discussions on the statistical classification of the scheme.
Taking into account the recently published update to the Manual on General Government Deficit and Debt along with Eurostat’s advice to other EU Member States, CSO agreed with Eurostat's view that rather than recording the full amount in 2022, the time of recording should coincide with the approval of household claims, i.e. the expenditure will accrue over the duration of the scheme.
Government Finance Statistics (GFS) form the basis for fiscal monitoring in Europe, in particular in relation to the Excessive Deficit Procedure (EDP).
European GFS, including EDP statistics, are produced according to the legally binding accounting rules of the European System of Accounts (ESA2010). The Manual on Government Debt and Deficit (MGDD) provides further guidance on the implementation of ESA2010 in the context of GFS.
EU Member States are required to report government deficit/surplus and debt data biannually under the EDP (before 1 April and 1 October in year N) for years N-4 to N-1 calendar years as well as a forecast for the current year. The data are reported in harmonised tables, which provide a consistent framework for the presentation of this data by Member States. The tables provide a structure for linking national budgetary aggregates with government deficit and debt.
Detailed statistics on government revenue and expenditure are also provided to Eurostat under the ESA transmission programme. For annual data the main tables reported are:
Table 0200 Revenue and expenditure of general government and sub-sectors
Tables 0900 and 0999 Taxes and national tax list
These data are available on the Eurostat website.
The general government sector of the economy, is defined in ESA2010 paragraph 2.111: as “institutional units which are non-market producers whose output is intended for individual and collective consumption, and are financed by compulsory payments made by units belonging to other sectors, and institutional units principally engaged in the redistribution of national income and wealth.” General government comprises the sub-sectors central government (S.1311), state government (S.1312 – which does not apply in Ireland), local government (S.1313), and social security funds (S.1314).
General government balance is the standard European measure of the fiscal balance, which is used to monitor compliance with the Stability and Growth Pact.
This measure is by definition equal to both Total Revenue (TR) less Total Expenditure (TE), and Net Acquisition of Financial Assets less Net Incurrence of Liabilities as shown in the GFS release.
In principle net lending/borrowing in the non-financial account is equal to the balance of the financial account however in practice this is often not the case. This can be due to a number of reasons such as timing differences between when transactions are recorded in the two accounts, differences in sources of information and statistical adjustments.
A listing of some of the main items included in this release is shown below.
| P.2 | Intermediate consumption – value of goods and services used in the process of production, excluding fixed assets | |
| P.5 | Gross capital formation | |
| P.51g | Gross fixed capital formation - acquisitions, less disposals, of fixed assets during a given period plus certain additions to the value of non-produced assets realised by productive activity. Fixed assets are tangible or intangible assets produced as outputs from processes of production that are themselves used repeatedly, or continuously, in processes of production for more than one year | |
| P.51c | Consumption of fixed capital - the amount of fixed assets used up, during the period under consideration, as a result of normal wear and tear and foreseeable obsolescence, including a provision for losses of fixed assets as a result of accidental damage which can be insured against. | |
| P.52 | Changes in inventories | |
| P.53 | Acquisitions less disposals of valuables | |
| D.1 | Compensation of employees – the total remuneration of government employees | |
| D.29 | Other taxes on production (payable) all taxes that enterprises incur as a result of engaging in production, independently of the quantity or value of the goods and services produced or sold. These include taxes on use or ownership of land or buildings, taxes on use of fixed assets, taxes on total wage bill and payroll, taxes on international transactions related to production. | |
| D.3 | Subsidies (payable) - current unrequited payments which general government or the institutions of the European Union make to resident producers, with the objective of influencing their levels of production, their prices or the remuneration of the factors of production | |
| D.4 | Property income accrues when the owners of financial assets and natural resources put them at the disposal of other units of the economy. The income payable for the use of financial assets is called investment income, while that payable for the use of a natural resource is called rent. Property income is the sum of investment income and rent. | |
| D.41 | Interest receivable by the owners of a financial asset for putting it at the disposal of another institutional unit - applies to deposits (AF.2), debt securities (AF.3), loans (AF.4) and other accounts payable (AF.8) | |
| D.42 | Dividends receivable by the owners of share equities. Dividends exclude "super dividends" which arise where the dividend paid is large relative to the recent level of dividends and earnings. Super dividends are recorded as withdrawal of equity (F.5). This arises, for example, in the case of dividends paid by the Central Bank in 2015. | |
| D.45 | Rent of a natural resource – income receivable by the owner of a natural resource for putting the resource at the disposal of another party. | |
| D.5 | Current taxes on income, wealth, etc., (payable) - all compulsory, unrequited payments, in cash or in kind, levied periodically by general government and by the rest of the world on the income and wealth of units in the economy, and some periodic taxes which are assessed neither on income nor wealth | |
| D.6 | Social contributions - transfers to households, in cash or in kind, intended to relieve them from the financial burden of a number of risks or needs. | |
| D.7 | Other current transfers – includes VAT and GNI based EU budget contributions, current transfers between subsectors of government, current international co-operation and current transfers to households and non-profit institutions. | |
| D.9 | Capital transfers - involve the acquisition or disposal of an asset, or assets, by at least one of the parties to the transaction. Includes capital taxes and investment grants. | |
| P.1 | Total output of Government is equal to market output, own account capital formation, and non-market output (i.e. the sum of D.1+P.2+P51c). The market output referred to in this publication is the imputed market value of social housing rented dwellings. See Table 2.1. | |
| P.3 | Final consumption expenditure of Government is equal to the total of its output (P.1) plus the expenditure on products/services supplied to households via market producers minus the sales of goods and services (at both market and non-market prices). This is made up of individual non-market services plus collective non-market services (P.31 and P.32). See Table 2.2. | |
| F.1 | Monetary gold and special drawing rights (SDRs) | |
| F.11 | Monetary gold | |
| F.12 | Special drawing rights (SDRs) | |
| F.2 | Currency and deposits | |
| F.21 | Currency | |
| F.22 | Transferable deposits | |
| F.29 | Other deposits | |
| F.3 | Debt securities | |
| F.31 | Short-term | |
| F.32 | Long-term | |
| F.4 | Loans | |
| F.41 | Short-term loans | |
| F.42 | Long-term loans | |
| F.5 | Equity and investment fund shares | |
| F.51 | Equity | |
| F.52 | Investment fund shares/units | |
| F.6 | Insurance pension and standardised guarantee schemes | |
| F.7 | Financial derivatives and employee stock options | |
| F.71 | Financial derivatives | |
| F.72 | Employee stock options | |
| F.8 | Other accounts receivable/payable | |
| F.81 | Trade credits and advances | |
| F.89 | Other trade credits | |
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