The Government deficit fell to €1.8 billion (-0.7% of GDP) last year, representing an improvement from the €5 billion deficit recorded in 2015.
New figures from the Central Statistics Office show the change was driven by an increase of 2.8% in Government revenues to €72.6 billion, coupled with a 1.6% decrease in expenditure to €74.4 billion between 2015 and 2016.
The upward trend in tax and social contribution revenue continued in 2016 with increases of €2.1 billion (+4.2%) in taxes and €0.6 billion (+5.0%) in social contributions.
There was also a once-off reimbursement of a prepaid margin (€555m) on a loan from the European Financial Stability Facility(EFSF) recorded as a capital transfer in 2016.
According to the CSO these increases were partially offset by a reduction in Investment income of €0.9 billion (-32.9%).
Although total Government expenditure fell in 2016, the comparison with 2015 is impacted by a once-off capital transfer of €2.1 billion in 2015.
Excluding this item results in an increase of €0.8 billion in other expenditure categories between 2015 and 2016.
There was a 2.4% rise in employee payments, while costs for use of goods and services were 2.5% higher.
