The Irish Exchequer returns to end-December showed tax receipts for the full year at €37.8bn which is in line with the revised estimate published by the Department of Finance in mid-October. This represents a 3.2% increase on 2012 although still €150mn adrift of the original Budget projection, which was predicated on stronger economic growth than eventually emerged. The last month of the year often throws up surprises and so the authorities will no doubt be relieved that the (revised) target was met although that satisfaction may also be tinged with some disappointment following a very buoyant tax intake in November, which opened the prospect of a strong end to the year for the Exchequer. In the event December proved a very weak month in terms of receipts, with tax revenue coming in €360mn behind profile, or 12%, with all the main headings adrift, including a very large shortfall in VAT, which came in at €89mn instead of the projected €211mn. The implication is that Irish consumers did not spend as freely as some expected in December, at least before the post-Christmas sales.
Non-tax current receipts were stronger than expected, however, ending the year at €2.7bn against an original forecast of €2.4bn (thanks in the main to the ELG scheme and increased dividends) so total current receipts ended the year at €40.5bn or €200mn ahead of the Budget projection. Voted spending came in 0.4% below profile for 2013 as a whole although again that masks a very strong spending round in December, particularly on the capital side, as the undershoot was over 2% at the end of November. Total current spending actually rose over the full year, by 1.6%, but this reflects higher debt costs and masks a sharp (4%) fall in day to day expenditure.
The combination of revenue growth and spending restraint has led to a steady fall in Ireland’s fiscal deficit although 2013 still saw a Current Budget shortfall of €10.6bn. The capital Budget was boosted by the State’s decision to sell various financial investments in Bank of Ireland and Irish Life with the result that the Capital deficit was around €5bn smaller than originally envisaged, at €870mn. The overall Exchequer deficit came in at €11.5bn against an original target of €15.4bn and broadly in line with the revised projection of €11.3bn made a few months ago.
On the funding side the authorities drew down the last of the monies available from the Troika , raised some €2bn from State savings products, and used the proceeds from bond issuance early in 2013 to buy back some of the bonds due for redemption this month. That transaction meant that net funding broadly matched the Exchequer deficit leaving cash balances at the end of 2013 at €23.6bn and as such largely unchanged from the previous year. This cash pile is expensive to hold ( given short term yields are virtually zero) but means that the authorities do not have to fund this year unless they want to, but will have to weigh the costs of increasing those balances against the benefit of returning to the bond market in the near term.