Bailed-out Ireland's tax revenues up

Irish tax revenues in the 10 months to November were slightly ahead of target, it was announced Friday, while overspending continues to threaten Dublin's deficit targets. Tax revenues over the period were 1.6 billion euros ($2.05 billion), or 6.3 percent ahead of last year and 96 million euros (0.3 percent) ahead of the forecast. The figures will be broadly welcomed by Dublin, which remains on track to hit a budget deficit target of 8.3 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) this year. However, the overall surplus tax take was offset by continued government overspending with departmental expenditure coming in 1.2 percent above target, mainly due to the swollen health and social protection budgets. There was a deficit for the month of October of 2.9 billion euros. Dublin entered an 85 billion euro European Union-International Monetary Fund bailout programme in November 2010. The Irish economy was badly exposed to a downturn in global markets and an over-reliance on the construction sector. Merrion Stockbrokers in Dublin said the government was nonetheless likely to hit its targets for the year. "We still believe that as long as day-to-day spending is kept under control the government will at the very least meet its 8.3 percent of GDP deficit target," it said. "We expect tax receipts to rebound in November." Overall, the exchequer deficit at the end of October is 8.1 billion euros less than the same period last year. The main factor behind the large decrease is that there has been no repeat of the state's July 2011 capital injection into struggling Irish banks.