Government expects bigger budget surplus in 2019

Next year’s national revenues will be DKK 30.5 million higher than previously projected.

The Ministry of Finance has asked the Parliament’s Finance Committee to change the 2019 budget proposal to accommodate the new figures, leaving the total budget surplus at DKK 434m rather than DKK 403m as originally projected.

The main changes in the projected revenue for 2019 are that government tax revenues are estimated to be DKK 72m higher than expected, while VAT revenues are estimated to go down by DKK 45.5m.

It is, however, not possible to predict the exact surplus for next year.

Finance minister Kristina Háfoss says that although the basis for estimating revenues from taxes on fisheries resources is still in line with the proposal for a fisheries tax law, which is currently being debated in Parliament, exact figures will not be available until Parliament has fixed next year’s fisheries tax rates.

Another complication here is the proposal to privatise national postal service Posta. The expected income from the planned privatisation has not been included in the 2019 budget proposal.

Translated by prosa.fo