Excluding the €175m recapitalisation of the Cooperative Central Bank, the public-sector balance registered a deficit of just €5.2m, or 0.0% of GDP according to Cystat.

Total expenditure excluding the recapitalisation decreased by 2.3% to €6,806.8m (€6.8bn) while total revenue fell by 1.8% to €6,801.6m.

With the inclusion of the coop recapitalisation, the general government deficit rises to €180.2m or 1.0% of GDP for 2015.

Revenue up in Q4

In the fourth quarter alone, revenue rose year on year by 3.6% to €1,947.8m, while total expenditure (excluding recap) fell by 3.8% to €2,053.8m.

The deficit for the fourth quarter dropped to €106.0m compared with a deficit of €255.0m in the same period of 2014.

On the revenue side, the taxes on production and imports dropped year on year by 5.1% to €667.2m. Within this category VAT receipts fell by 4.5% to €413.6m.

Revenue from the sales of goods and services dropped by 11.2% to €138.7m.

On the other hand, taxes on income and wealth rose by 6.2% to €552.5m while social insurance contributions leapt by 32.5% to €398.3m.

On the expenditure side, social transfers increased by 15.9% to €729.4m, while compensation of employees (including imputed social contributions and pensions of civil servants) fell by 6.0% to €675.7m.

Intermediate consumption rose by 11.9% to €228.9m.

Source: InCyprus