Exchequer tax revenues stood at €2,078 million in April in what is a 1.3 per cent decline on the same month last year, according Department of Finance figures.
This figure is slightly better than expected on budget day.
Cumulatively over the first four months of the year, tax revenues stood at €10.8 billion, up by 12.4 per cent on the same period in 2011. This total was ahead of the budget day target for the four-month period by 3.5 per cent.
These figures, combined with separate figures on the numbers of welfare claimants and the rate of unemployment in April, also published today, suggest a weak but stable economy at the beginning of the second quarter of the year.
Non-tax exchequer revenues, which are mostly accounted for by fees the banks pay for the State guarantee of their liabilities, stood at €710 million in the January-April period.
Exchequer spending was running 64 per cent ahead of revenues in the first four months of the year, standing at just under €19 billion.
There was a small increase in “voted” spending compared to the same period in 2011. On budget day, the Government had planned that by this stage of the year, a small decrease would have been recorded.
Overspending in the two biggest budget department – welfare and health – accounted for the missing of the targets. Most other departments spent less than planned, thus partially off-setting the higher-than-planned welfare and health bills.
The deficit between spending and revenues in the first four months of the year stood at €7.1 billion, down from from €9.9 billion in the same period of 2011.
The monthly exchequer figures provided only a partial picture of public spending and revenue. The more comprehensive general government accounts, which were published last week, showed that total revenue last year stood at €56 billion last year. Exchequer revenues, which exclude social insurance contributions, among others revenue streams, stood at €34 billion in 2011.