Exchequer deficit hits €22bn

Updated: 18:41, Thursday, 3 December 2009

The Exchequer deficit for the first 11 months of this year was just over €22bn, compared with just under €7.9bn at the same stage last year.

1 of 1 Exchequer Govt has reduced tax take forecast
Exchequer
Govt has reduced tax take forecast

Figures from the Department of Finance show the total tax receipts for the period were just under €30.8bn, almost €1.36bn behind the target set out at the time of the April Budget.

The Government has already lowered its tax take forecast for the year to around €32bn.

Income tax receipts were €575m behind the April Budget expectations, while VAT was almost €750m lower.

All other categories, except corporation tax, are also short of the April targets.

But total spending - at €42.5bn - came in almost €700m behind what was expected in April, despite a 15% increase in social welfare spending from last year as unemployment rises.

The figures also show that interest payments on the national debt rose from €1.6bn in the period to November last year to €2.7bn in the first 11 months of this year.

The Exchequer deficit has been swollen by the €4bn paid to Anglo Irish Bank to save it from going under and the €3bn that has been pumped into the National Pension Reserves Fund.

A breakdown of the tax figures showed that total receipts are 17% lower than in the same period last year.

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