The government surplus (net lending, B.9) was €5.4bn in the final quarter of 2024. This was down from €5.7bn surplus in Q4 2023. On the expenditure side, social protection payments rose by €1.0bn on the equivalent quarter last year to 8.8bn and final consumption expenditure (P.3) rose by 4% to €17.9bn. Income was boosted by an extra €1.6bn in income and wealth taxes (D.5 PAYE, corporation tax etc) and €0.5bn social contributions (D.61 PRSI, pension contributions). Further details are shown in Table 2.1, below.
| Government balance (B.9)/quarterly GDP | |
| 2023Q1 | 0.49 |
| 2023Q2 | 1.17 |
| 2023Q3 | -0.11 |
| 2023Q4 | 4.49 |
| 2024Q1 | -0.23 |
| 2024Q2 | 2.58 |
| 2024Q3 | 11.19 |
| 2024Q4 | 3.73 |
For 2024 as a whole, income and wealth taxes were €66bn, up 11% (€6.6bn) on 2023, while VAT-type taxes (D.2) were up 8% to €35.7bn. Revenue from social contributions was up 7% to €22.8bn. There was also a one-off capital transfer received of €14bn in the year which took the net lending (B.9) to €23.8bn, up €16.2bn on the 2023 balance. The accounts for General Government for 2024 are summarised in Table 2.2, below.
The gross value added (GVA) of Non-Financial Corporations was €14bn (15%) higher in Q4 2024 than in Q4 2023. The change in GVA by activity is illustrated in Figure 2.2. All sectors grew in the quarter. There was an increase of €7.1bn in the GVA of the Industry sector and €5.3bn in the Information & Communication sector compared to Q4 2023.
The sequence of accounts after GVA is summarised in Table 2.3. The €106bn in GVA was split into €26bn Compensation of Employees (COE, D1 up 6% on Q4 2023) and €80bn Gross Operating Surplus (GOS, B2A3G up 19%).
The GOS (profit) was then largely distributed as dividends and reinvested earnings paid out (€59bn in the quarter, up 49% on the final quarter of 2023), and was also used to pay corporation tax (D5, €7bn in the quarter, down 11% on Q4 2023).
Non-Financial corporations invested €18bn in capital assets (P5) in the quarter, which is close to the long term average but far below the unusually large €38bn in Q4 2023. This left their net lending (B9) at €14bn, a change of €17bn from a net borrowing of €2.5bn in the equivalent quarter last year.
| Change since 2023Q4 | |
| Industry (excl. Construction) | 7.11 |
| Construction | 0.03 |
| Distribution, Transport, Hotels & Restaurants | 0.13 |
| Information & Communication | 5.27 |
| Professional, Admin & Support Services | 1.30 |
| Arts, Entertainment & Other Services | 0.04 |
Looking at the preliminary annual data, the GVA of Non-Financial Corporations was €11bn (3%) higher in 2024 than in 2023. The first half of the year showed a decline but GVA recovered in the second half and was up 15% in Q4 2024 compared to Q4 2023.
The sequence of accounts after GVA for the year is summarised in Table 2.4. The €11bn increase in GVA in 2024 was split between growth of €6bn in COE and €5bn added to GOS. While CoE grew throughout the year, GOS declined in the first half but increased in the second six months of 2024.
The sector received higher income inflows from abroad on its investments (up €14bn in the year). Some of this investment income was received by foreign-controlled corporations and flowed directly out again. The investment income outflows were also higher (up €20bn) on the back of the higher profits. Corporation tax paid was €2bn higher in 2024 than 2023 at €22bn. This left the Gross Saving up €3bn year on year.
Capital expenditure was down €44bn on 2023 which left more available for Net Lending, which was up €17bn to €37bn in 2024.
Investment income (D.4) inflows of financial corporations were €56bn in Q4 2024 and outflows were €58bn. These are both increases on Q4 2024 of 11%. For 2024 as a whole, investment income inflows were €225bn and outflows were €231bn, increases of 15% and 17% respectively on their 2023 values.
The sector paid €3bn in compensation of employees in Q4 (€11bn in the four quarters of 2024) and made €3bn in gross operating surplus (€12bn in the year).
Most of the investment income flows relate to assets held overseas. As we can see from the 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. Thus, while the value of transactions are very high in the sub-sector, they have limited impact on the domestic economy.
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