Exchequer figures published by the Finance Department show the Government had a surplus of €483m of unspent money at the end of January. This is €200m more than the surplus in the same period last year.
The main reason for this improvement is that the amount of money raised through taxes was up €360m, or 12.8%. The Department had based this year's budget on the expectation that tax revenues would rise by about €290m, or 10.3% in January.
On the spending side, the figures show continued tight control during the first month of the new fiscal year. Government spending is below target in all but three government departments.
The total under spend amounts to €91m. €41m of this involves investment in various infrastructure projects. The remainder involves day to day spending by government departments.
As today's figures relate to just one twelfth of the year, it is too soon to say that any particular trend is emerging in the public finances for 2004.
The Department of Finance is due to publish the Finance Bill for 2004 tomorrow afternoon. This is the Bill that gives legal effect to the changes in taxation announced on Budget Day but usually contains several new financial measures that were not announced in the budget.
