Cyprus government holds onto budget surplus

The nominally communist government that was elected at the end of February 2008 held in the third quarter to the budget surplus accumulated by the previous administration.
On the basis of the preliminary EU-compatible data on the general government accounts total revenue in July-September rose by 9.7% year on year to EUR 2,198.6 mln , while total expenditure rose by 12.2% to EUR 1,855.3 mln, resulting in a surplus of EUR 343.3 mln.
This was only slightly lower than the EUR 349.9 mln surplus in the third quarter of 2007.
The budget was also in surplus for the first nine months of 2008, reaching EUR 483.5 mln, or 2.9% of GDP.
During the first nine months of 2008 total public sector expenditure increased by 8.3% compared to the first nine months of 2007, while total revenues increased by 7.6%.
The main categories of revenue for the period July-September 2008 were as follows.
*Taxes on production and imports: EUR 845.3 mln (5% increase), of which VAT was EUR 496.4 mln (10.4% increase).
*Taxes on income and wealth: EUR 775.9 mln (14% increase).
*Revenue from sales of goods and services decreased by 9% compared to the corresponding period of the previous year.
The main categories of expenditure for the period July-September 2008 were as follows.
*Compensation of employees: EUR 616.7 mln (10.8% increase)
*Social transfers: EUR 530 mln (17.8% increase).
*Current transfers: EUR 155.7 mln (12.7% increase).
*Capital formation: 18.3% increase
*Intermediate consumption: 20.4% increase.