THE Coalition Government ended the 2023-2024 financial year with a net deficit of $443.6million, which was much lower than the $639.1million announced in the budget in June 2023.
The Ministry of Finance states in the Government’s Fiscal Performance FY2023-2024 that the net deficit for FY2023-2024 is also much lower than the previous two years.
The ministry stated the total Government revenue in FY2023-2024 stood at $3.6billion, while total expenditure amounted to $4billion.
“Government debt stood at $10,309.2million ($10.3billion) at the end of July 2024, compared to 82.0 percent of GDP at the end of July 2023 and 90.6 percent at the end of July 2022,” the ministry stated.
“Total revenue for FY2023-2024 was above the revised forecast by $68.3million or 1.9 percent as a result of higher-than-expected collections from both tax and non-tax revenues.
“Compared to the previous financial year (FY2022-2023), total revenue collection was higher by $896.1million or 32.6 percent.
“A sum of $3,096.8million ($3billion) in tax revenues was collected for FY2023-2024, surpassing the revised forecast by $60.9million or 2.0 per cent and was higher by $811.8 million or 35.5 percent when compared to FY2022-2023.
The ministry stated the strong tax collections was largely driven by the changes in key taxes such as VAT, corporate tax, departure tax, fiscal and customs duties as well as the buoyant performance in key economic sectors such as tourism and other resource-based sectors.
