This release was updated on 20 April 2023. After the first publication (6 April), data from Government Accounts was significantly revised following dialogue with Eurostat. The largest single item to be changed was capital grants. The EU agency advised that the recording of the Defective Concrete Blocks Grant Scheme should be revised from upfront expenditure in 2022 and instead accrued at the time of approvals. This approach is consistent with other Member States. This affected capital transfers (D.9) paid by government (S.13), which were revised downward for 2022-Q2 from €3,140m to €428m (a revision of €2,711m). Other smaller changes to S.13 data were also incorporated and other sectors adjusted accordingly. Please see the Information Note for further details. We apologise for any inconvenience caused.
The government surplus (net lending, B.9) was €4.9bn in the last quarter of 2022. This was an improvement of €0.7bn on the figure for the fourth quarter of 2021. As we can see from Table 2.1 the improved position this quarter was due to increased revenues.
On the income side, taxes on income and wealth (D.5) benefited from higher earnings, and higher profits in the wider economy as a whole. These taxes were €17.7bn in Q4 2021 and went up to €20.0bn in Q4 2022 as households paid €0.8bn more income tax and companies paid €1.5bn more corporation tax. Taxes on products and production (D.2), such as VAT were down overall compared to the last quarter of 2021, from €7.7bn to €7.3bn.
Expenditure was also up this quarter. The pandemic supports which were present in 2021 had been phased out, but the government paid supports to households in response to the increase in the cost of living in late 2022 and this helped to increase social protection payments from €7.1bn to €7.9bn. Final Consumption of Government (P.3) also increased significantly: this included higher pay to public sector workers under the Building Momentum agreement.
For 2022 as a whole the government surplus was €8.5bn, a €15.5bn change compared to the deficit of €7.0bn in 2021. Table 2.3 summarises the main transactions that made up this change. The €11bn (24%) increase in taxes on income and wealth (such as corporation tax and PAYE) is the biggest contributor to this improvement. The end of the Employment Wage Subsidy Scheme more than halved the subsidy (D.3) payments in 2022. Government was able to run a surplus and still increase capital spending (P.5) by 16% (to €10.0bn) and final consumption expenditure (P.3) by 8% (to €56.5bn).
| Government balance (B.9)/quarterly GDP | |
| 2019Q1 | -2.26 |
| 2019Q2 | 1.05 |
| 2019Q3 | -1.12 |
| 2019Q4 | 4.06 |
| 2020Q1 | -4.14 |
| 2020Q2 | -7.78 |
| 2020Q3 | -6.74 |
| 2020Q4 | -2.33 |
| 2021Q1 | -6.33 |
| 2021Q2 | -2.34 |
| 2021Q3 | -2.16 |
| 2021Q4 | 3.95 |
| 2022Q1 | -0.32 |
| 2022Q2 | 1.31 |
| 2022Q3 | 1.74 |
| 2022Q4 | 3.81 |
The Gross Value Added (GVA, B.1g) of Non-Financial Corporations, which drives Ireland's GDP, was 26% (€20.1bn) higher in the third quarter of 2022 compared to the equivalent quarter last year (see table 2.4). The growth in GVA by activity is illustrated in Figure 2.2. Most of the growth was concentrated in the MNE-dominated Industry sector (excluding Construction), which increased its GVA by €18.1bn. The domestic-based sectors meanwhile continued their recovery after the pandemic. Distribution, Transport, Hotels & Restaurants sector posted an increase of €2.1bn in Q4 2022 while the Arts & Entertainment sector also rose and was up €0.35bn.
The €20.1bn growth in GVA meant an extra €1.3bn was paid to the Irish government as corporation tax (D.5) and compensation of employees here grew by €1.4bn in pay to workers (D.1). Most of the additional profit in the quarter flowed out to the owners of the corporations in other countries as investment income (D.4 net was up €9.7bn). The rest (€7.1bn, B.8G) was growth in the companies' savings.
Non-financial corporations invested €27.0bn in capital assets (P.5) in the quarter, down from €35.1bn on the equivalent quarter of 2021. This change is largely explained by the change in Research & Development imports: when we compare the fourth quarters, the International Accounts show these went from €24.3bn to €13.8bn.
This left the sector a net lender (B.9) in the quarter of €11.6bn.
In 2022 as a whole the non-financial corporations continued their high growth. Gross Value Added was €376bn, up 21% on the previous year. Operating Surplus expanded by 21% to €296bn while dividends and reinvested earnings were up 34% to €159bn. These corporations brought €121bn in fixed capital assets into the economy, their third largest investment (after 2019 and 2020).
| Change since 2021Q4 | |
| Industry (excl. Construction) | 18.12 |
| Construction | 0.11 |
| Distribution, Transport, Hotels & Restaurants | 2.08 |
| Information & Communication | 0.71 |
| Professional, Admin & Support Services | -0.10 |
| Arts, Entertainment & Other Services | 0.35 |
Financial corporations (S.12) received €33.3bn in investment income (D.4) in the last quarter of 2022, which was €9.7bn (41%) higher than the equivalent period in 2021. They paid out €35.1bn in investment income, which was up €12.1bn (52%) on the Q4 2021 figure.
As we can see from International Accounts Table 1.5, the investment income (primary income) is mostly paid and received by Other Financial Intermediaries, such as non-pension investment funds, and most of this is paid to, and received from, the rest of the world. Thus, while the value of transactions are very high in the sub-sector, they have limited impact on the domestic economy. Further details are given in the International Accounts.
As the outflows exceeded the inflows, after accounting for other transactions, the sector was a net borrower of €2.0bn in Quarter 4.
Investment income paid by financial corporations in 2022 grew by 25% over the previous year to reach €118bn. These corporations also increased their Gross Value Added (+8%), pay to employees (+12%) and tax on income and wealth (+48%) in the latest year.
Learn about our data and confidentiality safeguards, and the steps we take to produce statistics that can be trusted by all.