General Government recorded a surplus of €237.5 mn (1.0% of GDP) for January 2020, as compared to a surplus of €258.1 mn for January 2019 (1.2% of GDP), according to the preliminary General Government fiscal results, which are prepared by the Statistical Service of Cyprus (CYSTAT).
Both the increase in revenue and expenditure are attributed to the implementation of the National Health System.
JANUARY 2020 EXPENDITURE
Total expenditure for the month of January 2020 recorded an increase of €72.4 mn (+13.1%) as compared to 2019 and reached €624.2 mn (€551.8 mn in January 2019).
Intermediate consumption increased by €43.9 mn (+126.5%) to reach €78.6 mn in comparison to €34.7 mn in January 2019, due to the inclusion of HIO into the general government account. Social benefits increased by €17.8 mn (+8.7%) to reach €221.6 mn (as compared to €203.8 in January 2019).
The compensation of employees (including imputed social contributions and pensions of civil servants) increased by €14.7 mn (+7.6%) to reach €208.3 mn (€193.6 mn in January 2019).
The capital account also recorded a small increase. Gross fixed capital formation increased by €3.7 mn to record expenditure of €8.6 mn in January 2020 as compared to the €4.9 mn spent in January 2019, while other capital investment increased by €1.2 mn to reach €3.2 mn as opposed to the €2.0 mn expenditure of January 2019.
Subsidies recorded a marginal increase of €0.1 mn and reached €2.8 mn.
The remaining two expenditure categories recorded a decrease. Current transfers were reduced by €6.4 mn (-7.3%) thus being confined to €81.5 mn in January 2020 (€87.9 mn in January 2019), while payable interest was reduced to €19.6 mn in 2020 from €22.2 mn in January 2019 (€2.6 mn or 11.7% decrease).
The increased expenditure in the categories above is partly due to the implementation of the National Health System as of 01.03.2019.
JANUARY 2020 REVENUE
Total revenue increased by 6.4% (€51.8 mn) to total €861.7 mn in January 2020 as compared to €809.9 mn in January 2019.
Social contributions collected in 2020 exhibited a growth of 34.5% (or €63.0 mn) and reached €245.5 mn (€182.5 mn in January 2019).
Revenue from taxes on income and wealth and from current transfers increased by the same amount (€2.0 mn) to reach €258.7 mn and €10.3 mn respectively (+0.8% and +24.1%).
The remaining revenue categories recorded a decrease during the first month of 2020. Specifically, taxes on production and imports registered a €11.3 mn decrease (-3.8%) as compared to 2019 and were confined to €289.3 mn (€300.6 mn in January 2019), of which net VAT revenue decreased by 1.4%, which corresponds to €2.5 mn, and recorded a reduced revenue of €180.5 mn (as opposed to €183.0 mn in January 2019).
Capital transfers received by the State were reduced by €2.1 mn to total €3.2 mn in 2020, as the capital transfers received in January 2019 totalled €5.3 mn. Revenue from the sale of goods and services decreased by €1.7 mn (or 3.1%) to total €52.9 mn in 2020 as compared to €54.6 mn that were collected in 2019.
Finally, property income remained at similar levels as 2019, as they were only reduced by €0.1 mn and were confined to €1.8 mn in 2020.
Increased revenue in some revenue categories is partly due to the implementation of the National Health System as of 01.03.2020.
