Exchequer deficit shrinks 13% to €3.7bn

The exchequer deficit fell by over 13% — to just under €3.7bn — on an annualised basis, in the first three months of the year, despite the Government narrowly missing its quarterly revenue targets for headline categories such as income tax and Vat.

Although the first quarter’s Vat revenue of nearly €3.3bn fell 2.1%, or €72m, short of budgetary targets and the €3.66bn income tax receipts were 0.3% or €11m short; both categories were up on a year-on-year basis — income tax by nearly 8% on an adjusted basis when one-off items are taken into consideration.

The Department of Finance said yesterday that total tax revenue amounted to almost €8.82bn during the three months to the end of March; 0.6%, or €47m, ahead of target. This was despite marginal missed targets in the areas of excise, capital gains tax and capital acquisitions tax; the latter two categories were also down on an annualised basis.