Cyprus public deficit rises to â‚¬317,5 mln

The deficit on the General Government accounts was at € 114,6 mln in the quarter July – September, compared with a deficit of € 31,4 mln in the corresponding period of 2012, according to data released Friday by the Statistical Service of Cyprus, with the revenue to decline by 11.2% and expenditure by 6.7%.

In the first nine months of 2013 (January-September), the deficit increased to € 317,5 mln from 202.9 mln in the first half of the year. According to the Memorandum of Understanding, the primary deficit for 2013 (excluding debt servicing costs) should be €395 mln.

Based on the preliminary data on the General Government accounts for the period July-September 2013 prepared in accordance with the European system, the total revenue amounted to € 1.681,1 mln (11.2% decrease from the corresponding period of 2012 ) and total expenditure to € 1.795,7 mln (6.7% decrease).

The main categories of revenue for the period July-September 2013 were taxes on production and imports € 632,7 mln (6.3% decrease from the corresponding period of 2012) – of which VAT was € 347,5 mln (down 12.1%) – and taxes on income and wealth € 526,3 mln (10.9% decrease).

Revenues from services decreased by 24.0% compared with the same period in 2012 reaching € 111,5 mln. The main categories of expenditure for the period July-September 2013 were: compensation of employees € 622,2 mln (8 4% decrease from the corresponding period of 2012) and social benefits € 613,7 mln (4.3% decrease).

There was also a decline occurred on investments (25.1%) which reached € 77,9 mln while current transfers amounted to € 70,9 mln (26.6% increase compared with the same period last year).