Exchequer surplus of €2.4bn revealed
The Government tonight revealed an Exchequer surplus of €2.4bn for the first three months of the year prompting Minister for Finance Brian Cowen to predict economic growth of 4.5%.
Officials at the Department of Finance noted the buoyant returns compared to a surplus of just 880m euro in the same period last year.
Mr Cowen said the figures showed public finances were very much on track.
“Tax revenues are ahead of profile, with capital taxes performing particularly well. Public expenditure is in line with profile.” he said.
“I am confident that these figures support the view that the economy will grow by over 4.5% this year, the strongest growth rate in the euro area.
“Continued growth, however, will rely on maintaining prudent economic and fiscal policies and on retaining a competitive and flexible economy.”
Total tax receipts up to March 31 were just under 10.75bn euro, 436m euro ahead of projections in December’s Budget.
Year on year tax receipts were up 19.1% compared to the expected increase of 14.3%. Among the best performers were capital taxes earning the Exchequer 191m euro more than expected and stamp duty 129m euro ahead of forecasts.
Excise duties were 55m euro better than anticipated and corporation tax was 127m euro better.
Vat and income taxes are 10m euro and 84m euro below profile respectively.
The quarterly figures noted earnings of 214m euro from the sale of state property, notably the Veterinary College site in Ballsbridge, 4.8m euro from motoring fines and 18.9m euro from land registry fees.
The Government is planning for a 12.7% increase in spending this year. And Department officials said they were confident targets would be met despite coming in just below forecasts for a number of years.
They said that while it was very early on spending was significantly up on last year and that the Department was much closer to targets than in previous years.
