HELSINKI: Consolidated total general government revenue grew by EUR 0.1 billion in the second quarter of 2016 from the respective quarter of the year before. Correspondingly, consolidated expenditure increased by EUR 0.2 billion, according to Statistics Finland’s data. The difference between revenue and expenditure, that is, the surplus (net lending) of general government diminished by EUR 0.1 billion. Total revenue decreased by 0.5 per cent from the previous quarter. The total expenditure declined a little from the previous quarter. The general government surplus (net lending) stood at EUR 1.4 billion in the second quarter as per the statistics on general government revenue and expenditure by quarter.
General government is comprised of central government, local government and social security funds. Central government’s total revenue amounted to EUR 14.7 billion and total expenditure was EUR 14.5 billion in the second quarter. The central government’s total revenue went up by 0.1 per cent from the respective quarter of the year before.
Correspondingly, total expenditure grew by 0.4 per cent. The difference between revenue and expenditure, that is, the surplus was EUR 0.2 billion. Local government’s total revenue was EUR 12.7 billion in the second quarter. It decreased by 0.8 per cent from the respective quarter of the year before. The local government’s total expenditure was EUR 12.3 billion. It decreased by 0.5 per cent.
The expenditure items that grew most were social transfers in kind purchased from the market and gross fixed capital formation. Intermediate consumption and net acquisitions of natural resources diminished among expenditure items. The local government surplus went down from the previous year by 8.4 per cent, being EUR 0.4 billion the data show. Social security funds include employment pension schemes and other social security funds.
Total revenue of employment pension schemes amounted to EUR 7.3 billion and total expenditure to EUR 6.4 billion in the second quarter. Total revenue increased by EUR 0.06 billion or by 0.8 per cent from the corresponding quarter in the year before and total expenditure increased by EUR 0.2 billion or by 3.6 per cent. The revenue item that increased most was investment income of investment funds belonging to shareholders and the expenditure item that grew most was paid social benefits other than social transfers in kind.
The surplus of employment pension schemes went down by EUR 0.2 billion from one year back and amounted to EUR 0.8 billion. Other social security funds’ total revenue was EUR 4.7 billion in the second quarter. Total revenue increased by 4.6 per cent from the corresponding quarter of one year ago. The expenditure of other social security funds amounted to EUR 4.8 billion, which was 1.6 per cent higher than one year ago. The deficit (net borrowing) of social security funds was EUR 89 million in the second quarter.
