Government deficit grows by €360m in a year

The increase in the government’s deficit comes despite an increase in revenue.

FOR THE FIRST three months of the year, Ireland’s deficit was 13.8 per cent of quarterly GDP – amounting to €5.3 billion.

According to figures from the Central Statistics Office, this was almost €360 million greater than the corresponding figure for the first quarter of 2012.

Government revenue for the period at €12.8 billion, which was €973 million higher than the Q1 2012 revenue of €11.8 billion. This was mainly due to increased revenue from taxes and social contributions.

However, expenditure in this quarter amounted to €18.1 billion, representing an increase of €1.3 billion on the Q1 2012 levels of €16.8 billion.

This was mainly due to increases in capital transfers (in particular, payments under the Eligible Liabilities Guarantee Scheme related to the liquidation of IBRC) and interest expenditure.

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