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For more information on this release:
E-mail: gfs@cso.ie Jason Sibley (+353) 1 498 4219 Derek Stynes (+353) 1 498 4303 Ciara O'Shea (+353) 1 498 4312
For general information on CSO statistics:
information@cso.ie (+353) 21 453 5000 On-line ISSN 2009-616X
CSO statistical release, , 11am

Government Finance Statistics Annual - Provisional Estimates

2014 to 2017 (October 2018 Results)

 General Government
 GG DeficitGG Gross DebtGG Net Debt
Year€bn% GDP€bn% GDP€bn% GDP
2014-7.0-3.6203.4104.1168.486.2
2015-5.0-1.9201.676.8173.866.2
2016-1.5-0.5200.773.4177.164.8
2017-0.7-0.2201.368.4175.659.7

Government deficit of -0.2% of GDP in 2017

Figure 1 General Government Deficit, Gross Debt and Net Debt
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Provisional data for 2017 shows a government deficit of €0.7 billion (-0.2% of GDP, -0.4% of GNI*).  This is an improvement on the 2016 deficit of €1.5 billion (-0.5% of GDP, -0.8% of GNI*). 2017 saw increases in both government revenue (+3.9%) and expenditure (+2.9%) (Table 1).

Government debt falls to 68.4% of GDP in 2017

Provisional data for nominal general government gross debt (GG Debt) stood at €201.3 billion at the end of 2017 (68.4% of GDP, 111.1% of GNI*) compared with the 2016 figure of €200.7 billion (73.4% of GDP, 114.1% of GNI*). 

These annual results are provisional as the data is still under review as part of the Excessive Deficit Procedure (EDP) clarification process with Eurostat. This process is due to be completed by 17 October 2018.  It is envisaged that the detailed release and tables will be published by the CSO no later than 19 October 2018. The CSO Statbank is not updated with this provisional data. It will be updated when the detailed release and tables are published.

The changes to the previously published tables under the EDP in April 2018 reflect updated data sources.

The main EDP notification tables for Ireland, details of government guarantees, PPPs and concessions and tables showing the impact of government interventions in the financial sector on government accounts will be published on 22 October, the same day as the Eurostat's EDP statistics release.

National accounts are compiled in the EU according to the European System of National Accounts 2010 (ESA2010) framework.

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.

Table 1 General Government transactions: revenue, expenditure and deficit
       €million
DescriptionESA2010 code2014201520162017
General Government transactions     
RevenueTR65,97470,90173,65576,540
Taxes and social contributionsD2 + D5 + D91 + D6157,44362,23265,13968,568
TaxesD2 + D5 + D9146,46050,84453,09755,927
Social contributions D6110,98311,38812,04212,641
Sales of goods and servicesP1O4,8265,3505,4465,525
Investment incomeD43,0712,7141,8261,772
Current transfer revenue (excluding taxes)D7266294244247
Capital transfer revenue (excluding taxes)D9N368310999428
 
ExpenditureTE73,01975,91575,12177,269
ExpenseExpense72,04374,64973,51175,901
Compensation of employeesD118,36618,95219,44220,681
Use of goods and services plus taxes payableP2 + D5 + D298,9379,2439,5259,865
Depreciation (Consumption of fixed capital)P51c3,3173,5153,7223,947
Interest (excluding FISIM)D417,5896,8496,1655,806
SubsidiesD31,8671,7921,7771,823
Social benefitsD62 + D63228,07628,42328,43729,006
Other current transfersD72,7592,5283,0053,172
Capital transfersD91,1323,3481,4381,603
 
 Net operating balanceNOB-6,069-3,748144639
 
Net acquisition of non-financial assetsP5 + NP - P51c9761,2661,6101,368
         
 General Government Surplus/DeficitB9-7,045-5,014-1,466-730
         
 General Government Surplus/Deficit (% of GDP) -3.6-1.9-0.5-0.2
 General Government Surplus/Deficit (% of GNI*) -4.7-3.1-0.8-0.4
 GDP at current market prices 195,293262,466273,238294,110
 GNI* 148,628161,382175,827181,182