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New Government Finance Statistics issued by CSO

 

The CSO today issued two new statistical releases:

 

  • Government Finance Statistics Annual Results 2009-2012 (April 2013)
  • Government Finance Statistics Quarterly Results 2009-2012 (April 2013)

These new releases bring together for the first time the key data on government finances produced by the CSO. They show how the General Government Deficit (GGDeficit) and General Government Debt (GGDebt) relate to government revenue, expenditure and financing operations. They also present the first official calculation of both net GGDebt and the total net worth of general government.

 

Key results for the 2009-2012 period include:

 

  • The General Government Deficit for Ireland was €12,461 million in 2012 (7.6% of GDP), showing a decrease from the 2009 level of €22,368 million (13.9% of GDP).
  • General Government Debt rose over the same period from €104,544 million in 2009 (64.8% of GDP) to €192,461 million (117.6% of GDP) by end 2012.
  • The net worth of General Government decreased from + €19,919 million in 2009 to -€77,283 million in 2012.
  • Ireland’s General Government Deficit was lower and showed greater stability over the quarters of 2012 compared with the quarterly figures for 2009 to 2011. During 2012, the deficit values varied from 12.6% of GDP in Q1 to 2.9% in Q4 and overall the deficit levels were lower than in the earlier years.
  • General Government Gross Debt (GGDebt) and Net Worth also showed fairly stable patterns on a quarterly basis during 2009-2012. GGDebt rose from €85.5 billion at the end of Q1 2009 to €192.5 billion by end 2012 while Net Worth fell from +€41.3 billion in Q1 2009 to - €77.3 billion by end 2012.

 

These two releases published today are based on a number of data series which the CSO has been transmitting to Eurostat since April 1999, as required by the European System of Accounts 1995 (ESA95) transmission programme. The current releases cover the 2009 to 2012 period only, but the data series transmitted to Eurostat and covering the period 1990-2012 (annual) and 1999-2012 (quarterly) will be made available on the CSO Statbank in the near future. They are already available on the Eurostat data explorer.

 

A methodological note and a preliminary register of public sector bodies including those bodies which are classified within the General Government sector is also published today on the CSO website at

http://www.cso.ie/en/surveysandmethodology/nationalaccounts/

 

  

Transfer of official EDP deficit and debt reporting to the CSO

 

These new releases coincide with the transfer of responsibility for reporting of Government Deficit and Debt under the Excessive Deficit Procedure to the CSO. Under the Maastricht Treaty, as implemented by EU Council Regulation (EC) No 479/2009, all EU member-states must make an official twice-yearly report on their General Government Deficit (GGDeficit) and General Government Debt (GGDebt) levels to Eurostat, the statistical agency of the EU Commission.  

In line with Eurostat best practice guidelines, formal responsibility for Ireland’s EDP reporting has transferred from the Department of Finance to the CSO, with effect from April 2013.  

The Department of Finance continues to be responsible for production of the current year forecast outturn data included in the reporting to Eurostat.

Editor’s note: Government Finance Statistics Annual Results 2009-2012 (April 2013) and Government Finance Statistics Quarterly Results 2009-2012 (April 2013) are available on the CSO website:

 

 

For further information contact:

 

Ciaran Judge (01 498 4360), Rod O’Mahony (01 498 4304) or Gillian Roche (01 498 4310).

 

Central Statistics Office                                                                       22 April 2013

– ENDS –