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Government Finance Statistics - Annual 2016 to 2021 (April 2022 Results)

Headline Results

COVID-19 Release Information

This release has been compiled during the COVID-19 crisis. The results contained in this release reflect some of the economic impacts of the COVID-19 situation. For further information see Background Notes.

Headline Results

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Table 1.1 General Government Finances
End of year	General Government						GDP
	Balance		Gross Debt		Net Debt
	€bn	% GDP	€bn	% GDP	€bn	% GDP	€bn
2016	-2.1	-0.8	200.6	74.3	176.6	65.4	270.1
2017	-0.9	-0.3	201.3	67.8	175.2	59.0	296.9
2018	0.5	0.1	205.9	63.1	177.2	54.3	326.0
2019	1.7	0.5	204.0	57.2	174.6	49.0	356.5
2020	-19.1	-5.1	217.9	58.4	185.8	49.8	372.9
2021	-8.1	-1.9	235.9	56.0	192.6	45.7	421.5

Open in Excel: Government Finance Statistics Annual Results 2016 to 2021 (April 2022) Table 1.1 (XLS 10KB)

X-axis label	GG gross debt (LHS)	GG net debt (LHS)	GG balance (RHS)
2016	74.3	65.4	-0.8
2017	67.8	59	-0.3
2018	63.1	54.3	0.1
2019	57.2	49	0.5
2020	58.4	49.8	-5.1
2021	56	45.7	-1.9

A seminar on Government Finance Statistics will take place on 27 April. For more information and registration see Seminar on Government Finance Statistics

General government deficit of €8.1 billion (1.9% of GDP) in 2021.

The COVID-19 pandemic continued to have a detrimental impact on general government finances in 2021, with a general government deficit of €8.1bn for the year. This was down by more than half (57.6%) on the 2020 deficit of €19.1bn (Table 1.1). The main driver behind this reduction was the strong performance of revenue in 2021 with an annual increase of €14.3bn (17.3%), due primarily to growth in both direct (22.6%) and indirect taxes (22.2%). This increase in revenue exceeded a lower €3.3bn (3.2%) rise in expenditure, resulting in an overall improvement in the year-on-year deficit.

Expenditure on COVID-19 measures for 2021 amounted to €12.4 billion, which was €2.3 billion less than in 2020 (Table A). This reduction is mainly due to a drop in expenditure on the Pandemic Unemployment Payment scheme, which reduced by €1.1 billion to €4.0 billion in 2021 as public health restrictions eased over the year.

General government debt at €235.9 billion at end of 2021

The general government gross debt to GDP ratio was at 56.0% at the end of 2021, down from 58.4% at the end 2020. This reduction was driven entirely by the increase in GDP as the nominal debt saw an increase of €18.0 billion in the year. Over that same time frame the general government net debt to GDP ratio moved from 49.8% to 45.7% (Table 1.1).

Table A COVID-19 Expenditure

Table 1.2 General Government transactions: revenue, expenditure, financing and deficit

Table 1.2 General Government transactions: revenue, expenditure, financing and deficit
										€million
Description				ESA2010 code	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021
General Government transactions
	Revenue			TR	73,708	76,930	83,058	88,010	82,647	96,961
		Taxes and social contributions		D2 + D5 + D91 + D61	65,752	69,410	75,159	80,412	76,368	91,015
			Taxes	D2 + D5 + D91	52,814	55,719	60,533	64,611	61,327	74,963
			Social contributions	D61	12,938	13,691	14,626	15,802	15,041	16,051
		Sales of goods and services		P1O	4,617	4,637	4,928	4,910	3,923	3,820
		Investment income		D4	1,826	1,779	1,533	1,579	1,120	479
		Current transfer revenue (excluding taxes)		D7	512	660	865	647	699	1,013
		Capital transfer revenue (excluding taxes)		D9N	1,001	444	573	461	536	634

	Expenditure			TE	75,791	77,803	82,587	86,285	101,776	105,072
		Expense		Expense	74,253	76,404	80,282	83,071	98,230	101,544
			Compensation of employees	D1	19,945	21,112	22,116	23,435	24,644	25,951
			Use of goods and services plus taxes payable	P2 + D5 + D29	10,083	10,448	11,213	12,639	14,908	16,245
			Depreciation (Consumption of fixed capital)	P51c	3,863	4,104	4,374	4,737	5,030	5,030
			Interest (excluding FISIM)	D41	6,264	5,906	5,315	4,623	3,830	3,291
			Subsidies	D3	1,768	1,814	1,948	1,907	6,400	6,937
			Social benefits	D62 + D632	27,933	28,623	29,626	30,835	37,593	37,444
			Other current transfers	D7	2,952	2,902	3,778	3,345	4,029	4,800
			Capital transfers	D9	1,445	1,494	1,912	1,551	1,796	1,845

	Net operating balance			NOB	-545	526	2,777	4,939	-15,583	-4,583

	Net acquisition of non-financial assets			P5 + NP - P51c	1,538	1,399	2,305	3,215	3,546	3,528

	General Government Surplus/Deficit			B9	-2,083	-873	471	1,724	-19,130	-8,111
	equals, in principle
		Net acquisition of financial assets		ΔFA	-4,892	-2,673	16,025	-776	-1,668	11,254
			Debt instruments	F2 + F3 + F4	-5,150	2,140	2,693	610	-613	11,155
			Equity and Investment Fund Shares	F5	-382	-4,496	-1,238	-2,351	-1,280	-954
			Other financial assets	F6 + F7 + F8	640	-317	14,570	965	225	1,053
	less
		Net incurrence of liabilities		ΔL	-2,808	-1,035	17,382	-924	16,259	18,058
			Debt instruments	F2 + F3 + F4	-2,485	-1,234	2,602	-1,276	14,428	17,254
			Other liabilities	F5 + F6 + F7 + F8	-323	199	14,780	352	1,831	804

Memo: Net derivative flows on debt interest swap contracts					-275	-223	-200	-137	-82	-29
General Government Surplus/Deficit (% of GDP)					-0.8	-0.3	0.1	0.5	-5.1	-1.9
General Government Surplus/Deficit (% of GNI*)					-1.2	-0.5	0.2	0.8	-9.2	..
GDP at current market prices					270,058	296,925	326,043	356,526	372,869	421,529
GNI*					174,776	185,125	197,820	215,555	208,178	..
		Government interventions to support financial institutions¹
			Revenue (a+b+c+d)		1,715	1,297	1,176	1,108	1,218	940
			Guarantee fees receivable (a)	P131(part)	45	5	0	0	0	0
			Interest receivable (b)	D4(part)	135	49	71	49	39	38
			Dividends receivable (c)	D4(part)	749	558	382	380	394	68
			Other (d)	P131(part)	785	685	723	679	785	834
			Expenditure (e+f+g+h)		1,729	1,620	1,790	1,471	1,402	1,407
			Interest payable (e)	D4(part)	1,047	897	783	687	630	578
			Capital injections recorded as deficit-increasing (capital transfer)(f)	D9(part)	0	0	0	0	0	0
			Calls on guarantees (g)	D9(part)	0	0	0	0	0	0
			Other (h)	various	682	723	1,007	784	772	829
		Impact of the above interventions on General Government Surplus/Deficit			-14	-322	-614	-362	-184	-468
		General Government Surplus/Deficit excluding interventions to support financial institutions			-2,069	-550	1,085	2,087	-18,945	-7,643
.. Data currently not available until NIE 2021 published

Open in Excel: Government Finance Statistics Annual Results 2016 to 2021 (April 2022) Table 1.2 (XLS 15KB)

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Table 1.3 Reconciliation of Exchequer Balance to General Government Deficit

Table 1.3 Reconciliation of Exchequer Balance to General Government Deficit
						€ million
Description		ESA2010 code	2018	2019	2020	2021
Exchequer balance			99	647	-12,316	-7,372

Deduct cash inflows which do not increase financial net worth			-1,960	-2,665	-3,657	-10,425
	Inflows from sale or redemption of financial assets		-1,960	-2,665	-3,657	-10,425
	Incurrence of Exchequer liability to Central Bank for notes and coins in circulation		0	0	0	0
Exclude cash outflows which do not reduce financial net worth			267	201	1,245	9,771
	Acquisition of financial assets		267	201	1,245	9,771
	Repayment of promissory notes notional loan principal		0	0	0	0
	Redemption of Exchequer liability to Central Bank for notes and coins in circulation		0	0	0	0

Impact on financial net worth of Exchequer cash transactions			-1,594	-1,817	-14,728	-8,026

Adjust for impact of non-cash revenue and disposals of non-financial asset (+)			368	551	-191	1,953
	Difference between Exchequer cash tax revenue and time-adjusted Revenue Net Receipts		300	458	-188	1,890
	Receipts due from EU (Agriculture grants, Cohesion Fund, ESF and ERDF)		-32	36	-81	-15
	Accrual of interest due on contingent capital assets assigned to banks		0	0	0	0
	Licence sales		100	58	78	78
	Other accrued revenue		0	0	0	0
Adjust for impact of non-cash expenditure (-)			237	419	612	-250
	Capital transfers to financial institutions financed by promissory notes		0	0	0	0
	Difference between interest paid and accrued		479	397	601	294
	Difference between Exchequer cash issues and accrued net spending of departments and offices		18	-18	46	-4
	Other accrued expenditure		-259	40	-34	-540

Surplus/Deficit of Exchequer		B9_exchequer	-989	-846	-14,307	-6,324

Surplus/Deficit of extra-budgetary bodies, funds and accounts consolidated with Exchequer			1,094	2,067	-2,788	19
	Social Insurance Fund		1,137	1,625	-3,429	-560
	Bank & Deposit Guarantee Schemes		161	121	125	151
	Capital Services Redemption Account		0	0	0	0
	Small Savings Reserve Fund		0	0	0	0
	Other Extra-Budgetary Funds		-283	153	390	301
	Health Service Executive		78	168	127	127

Surplus/Deficit of Budgetary Central Government		B9_bcg	104	1,221	-17,095	-6,304
Surplus/Deficit of other Central Government bodies			291	967	-1,888	-1,451
	National Pensions Reserve Fund		375	438	-66	55
	Non-market State corporations and agencies		128	404	-1,930	-1,504
	Voluntary and joint board hospitals		-9	21	-2	-2
	Other adjustments		-203	104	109	0
	Conversion of AIB Preference shares into Ordinary shares		0	0	0	0
	Concession asset reclassification & Court decision (consultants pay)		-203	104	109	0
Surplus/Deficit of Central Government		B9_S1311	395	2,188	-18,983	-7,755
Surplus/Deficit of Local Government		B9_S1313	76	-464	-147	-356
Surplus/Deficit of General Government		B9_S13	471	1,724	-19,130	-8,111

Open in Excel: Government Finance Statistics Annual Results 2016 to 2021 (April 2022) Table 1.3 (XLS 36KB)

Table 1.4 Reconciliation of National Debt to General Government Debt

Table 1.4 Reconciliation of National Debt to General Government Debt
										€ million
Description					2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021
Audited National Debt					185,610	185,483	187,682	188,194	200,282	208,028*
	Composed of
		Gross National Debt			196,729	198,701	205,275	206,730	219,482	237,177
			Medium/long term debt		173,620	174,395	178,901	175,914	182,459	202,559
				Irish Government Bonds	121,645	127,581	131,829	130,067	136,809	154,105
				EU/IMF Programme Funding and bilateral loans	50,491	44,548	44,518	43,281	41,359	40,911
				Other medium/long term debt	1,693	1,893	2,238	2,573	4,092	7,648
				Miscellaneous (including derivatives)	-209	373	316	-7	198	-105
			Short term debt		5,915	7,013	9,035	13,016	18,196	14,976
				Foreign Bills	363	502	513	345	4,717	1,967
				Treasury Bills	1,008	2,009	2,014	2,010	3,760	3,009
				Borrowings from Funds under the control of the Minister for Finance	2,518	2,281	2,595	3,018	4,328	5,100
				Exchequer Bills/Notes (incl. Central Treasury Notes)	2,025	2,221	3,913	7,643	5,391	4,901
			State Savings Schemes		17,194	17,293	17,339	17,800	18,828	19,642
	Less cash and other financial assets				-11,119	-13,217	-17,593	-18,536	-19,200	-29,149
	Reverse deduction of cash, other financial assets and EFSF prepaid margin held by Exchequer				11,119	13,217	17,593	18,536	19,200	29,149
	Outstanding principal value of promissory notes				0	0	0	0	0	0
	Liability for coinage in circulation				707	704	712	722	713	736
	Accrual adjustments (State Savings)				451	452	280	275	270	284
	Adjustment from discounted to nominal value				-2	-5	2	-10	-14	-5
	National Loans Advance Interest				29	46	41	38	16	30
	Gross treatment of collaterals				522	50	68	68	10	110
	Other adjustments (repurchase agreements, OPW contracts and exclusion of financial derivatives)				16	38	20	17	63	14
Unconsolidated Exchequer Debt (Maastricht definition)					198,452	199,987	206,397	207,840	220,541	238,345
	of which: Liabilities to other Central Government bodies				3,985	3,959	4,356	7,070	9,331	9,749
Exchequer contribution to Central Government debt					194,466	196,028	202,041	200,770	211,210	228,596
	of which: Liabilities to Social Security Funds				0	500	2,065	3,580	0	0
Exchequer contribution to General Government debt					194,466	195,528	199,976	197,190	211,210	228,596
Housing Finance Agency (HFA)
	Gross debt of HFA				3,612	3,617	3,790	4,497	4,989	6,229
	of which: Liabilities to other Central Government bodies				2,056	1,783	1,587	1,924	1,591	1,670
HFA contribution to Central Government debt					1,556	1,834	2,203	2,574	3,399	4,559
	of which: Liabilities to Local Authorities				1,295	1,514	1,850	2,006	2,693	3,719
HFA contribution to General Government debt					261	320	353	567	706	839
Other Central Government
	IBRC Consolidated				698	332	198	252	205	198
	Liabilities of Post Office Savings Bank Fund to Post Office Savings Bank				2,922	3,121	3,308	3,420	3,919	4,413
	All other bodies				1,585	1,442	1,353	1,479	629	463
Other bodies' contribution to Central and General Government debt					5,205	4,895	4,860	5,152	4,752	5,074
Total Central Government debt					201,227	202,757	209,104	208,495	219,361	238,229
	of which: Liabilities to Local Government and Social Security Funds				1,295	2,014	3,915	5,586	2,693	3,719
Central Government contribution to General Government debt					199,932	200,743	205,188	202,908	216,668	234,509
Local Government - Local Authorities
	Borrowing from Housing Finance Agency				3,698	3,709	3,895	4,386	4,971	5,582
	Borrowing from other Central Government bodies				22	19	16	13	11	9
	Other borrowing				705	528	663	1,078	1,211	1,342
Local Authorities' contribution to Local Government debt					4,425	4,256	4,574	5,477	6,193	6,933
	VECs / ETBs				0	0	0	0	0	0
Total Local Government debt					4,425	4,256	4,574	5,477	6,193	6,933
	of which: Liabilities to Central Government				3,720	3,728	3,911	4,399	4,982	5,591
Local Government contribution to General Government debt					705	528	663	1,078	1,211	1,342

General Government Debt					200,637	201,271	205,851	203,986	217,879	235,851
* unaudited figure

Open in Excel: Government Finance Statistics Annual Results 2016 to 2021 (April 2022) Table 1.4 (XLS 39KB)

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Table A: COVID-19 measures included in general government expenditure, €bn

ESA 2010 Code	Measure	2020	2021
D.39	Employment Wage Subsidy Scheme	4.2	4.7
D.62	Pandemic Unemployment Payment	5.1	4.0
P.2	Health sector expenditure	2.0	2.2
P.2	Other sectors	0.8	0.2
D.75	Restart Grant / Restart Grant Plus	0.6	0.0
D.75	Covid Restrictions Support Scheme	0.2	0.5
D.75	Other	0.5	0.2
P.51g	Gross Fixed Capital Formation	0.8	0.2
D.632	Primary care	0.1	0.1
Other	Other measures	0.4	0.3
Total Expenditure		14.7	12.4

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Government Finance Statistics - Annual 2016 to 2021 (April 2022 Results)

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