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Government Finance Statistics Quarter 2 2022

Government deficit of €1.4 billion in the second quarter of 2022

Online ISSN: 2009-6178
CSO statistical publication, , 11am
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.

Key Findings

  • Tax revenue increased to €20.7 billion in Quarter 2 (Q2) 2022, €2.7 billion higher than Q2 2021.

  • Expenditure on COVID-19 measures for Q2 2022 decreased to approximately €1.1 billion, €2.4 billion less than in Q2 2021.

  • Expenditure on investment grants increased to €3.1 billion in Q2 2022, €2.7 billion higher than in Q2 2021.

Statistician's Comment

The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has today (19 October 2022) released Government Finance Statistics Quarterly results Quarter 2 2022.

Jason Sibley, Statistician in the Government Accounts Compilation & Outputs Division, said:

"Today’s results for Quarter 2 (Q2) 2022 show increased tax revenue of €20.7 billion in Q2 2022, which is €2.7 billion higher than Q2 2021. It is the highest Q2 tax figure ever reported. Expenditure on COVID-19 measures continued to decrease to approximately €1.1 billion this quarter, €2.4 billion less than the spend in Q2 2021.

The Defective Concrete Blocks Grant Scheme has been recorded in full this quarter. Under the European System of Accounts methodology, such a commitment is recorded at the time of the decision for the full amount. Accordingly, €2.7 billion is included in expenditure on investment grants.

The general government deficit was €1.4 billion in the second quarter of 2022."

Table 1.1 General Government Finances
  2021 Q12021 Q22021 Q32021 Q42022 Q12022 Q2
Deficit/Surplus€ billion-6.3-2.3-2.74.20.2-1.4
 % of quarterly GDP-6.2-2.3-2.33.80.2-1.2
 seasonally adjusted (€ billion)-4.5-1.6-1.10.02.1-0.6
        
Gross debt€ billion230.3234.5236.3236.1235.1236.6
 % of annualised GDP60.458.957.455.453.251.4
        
Net debt€ billion191.2193.4193.9192.3193.4189.3
 % of annualised GDP50.248.647.145.143.741.1

Government deficit of €1.4 billion in second quarter of 2022

With revenue of €27.0 billion and expenditure of €28.4 billion, quarter 2 of 2022 saw a deficit of €1.4 billion. This deficit is an improvement on the €2.3 billion deficit in the same quarter in 2021, driven by an increase in tax revenues of €2.7 billion. Expenditure is up €2.5 billion on the same quarter in 2021 reflecting a large increase in investment grants, which have increased by €2.7 billion. This was offset by reduced expenditure on social benefit payments and subsidies (see Table 1.2).

Expenditure on COVID-19 measures for Q2 2022 amounted to approximately €1.1 billion, which was €2.4 billion less than in Q2 2021. This reduction is mainly due to the closure of both the Pandemic Unemployment Payment and Employment Wage Subsidy Scheme (EWSS). For Q2 2022, €0.1 billion was paid out under the EWSS (€2.6 billion in Q2 2021).

This release includes seasonally adjusted figures for general government total revenue, total expenditure, and the deficit/surplus (see Table 1.2). A comparison between the seasonally adjusted and non seasonally adjusted balance is shown in Figure 1.1. For details regarding the methodology used in producing the seasonally adjusted series, please see background notes.

Table A COVID-19 Expenditure

GG BalanceSA GG Balance
Q1 2020-3.8-2.2
Q2 2020-6.7-6.3
Q3 2020-6.6-5
Q4 2020-1.7-5.5
Q1 2021-6.3-4.5
Q2 2021-2.3-1.6
Q3 2021-2.7-1.1
Q4 20214.20
Q1 20220.22.1
Q2 2022-1.4-0.6

General government debt at €236.6 billion at end of Q2 2022

The general government gross debt to GDP ratio was at 51.4% at the end of the quarter, a decrease of 7.5 percentage points from the end of Q2 2021. With nominal debt increasing by €2.1 billion, this reduction was driven entirely by the increase in GDP. Over that same time frame, the general government net debt to GDP ratio moved from 48.6% to 41.1%.

GG Gross DebtGG Net Debt
Q1 202058.748.8
Q2 20206248.9
Q3 202061.149.1
Q4 202058.449.8
Q1 202160.450.2
Q2 202158.948.6
Q3 202157.447.1
Q4 202155.445.1
Q1 202253.243.7
Q2 202251.441.1
Table 1.2 General Government transactions: revenue, expenditure, financing and deficit

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

This release contains quarterly Government Finance Statistics (GFS) and is aligned to the Annual National Accounts 2021 (ANA) published on 15 July 2022. 

A full description of the concepts and definitions used in the production of these statistics is provided in the Background Notes.