Operating expenses of municipalities in Mainland Finland decreased by 2.2 per cent in January to March 2017

In January to March 2017, the external operating expenses of municipalities in Mainland Finland decreased by 2.2 per cent compared with the corresponding period of the previous year. External operating revenue declined by 10.1 per cent. Municipalities received a total of EUR 5.6 billion in tax revenue and EUR 2.2 billion in central government transfers to local government. The external operating expenses of joint municipal authorities grew by 10.1 per cent and operating revenue by 9.7 per cent. These data appear from Statistics Finland's statistics on quarterly local government finances, for which data were collected from 80 municipalities and from 69 joint municipal authorities in Mainland Finland.

External quarterly data on the finances of municipalities and joint municipal authorities, EUR million ¹⁾

	1st quarter
	Municipalities		Joint municipal authorities
	2017	Change, %	2017	Change, %
Operating revenue total	1 546	-10,1	3 637	9,7
Operating expenses total	8 600	-2,2	3 194	10,1
Annual contribution margin	806	-9,8	425	8,1
Loan stock	15 616	3,7	3 110	5,0

1) Operating expenses include expenses from production for own use. The change is calculated compared with the corresponding period in the previous year.

Finances of municipalities and joint municipal authorities

The external operating expenses of municipalities in Mainland Finland totalled EUR 8.6 billion in January to March 2017. The decrease from the previous year’s corresponding period was 2.2 per cent. The external operating revenue of municipalities amounted to EUR 1.5 billion, which was 10.1 per cent less than in the corresponding quarter last year.

Municipalities' tax funding, which consists of tax revenue and central government transfers to local government, amounted to EUR 7.8 billion, which was 1.2 per cent less than in the year before. Calculated per inhabitant, municipalities received a total of EUR 1,421 in tax funding. ¹⁾ The combined annual contribution margin of municipalities amounted to EUR 0.8 billion, which was 9.8 per cent less compared to the situation one year ago.

In the period from the beginning of 2017 to the end of March, municipalities used EUR 0.4 billion on investments, which corresponded to the level of the previous year. At the end of March, the combined loan stock totalled EUR 15.6 billion. This was 2.8 per cent lower than at the end of the previous quarter. Calculated per inhabitant, the loans of municipalities in Mainland Finland were EUR 2,853. ²⁾

The external operating expenses of joint municipal authorities in Mainland Finland totalled EUR 3.2 billion in January to March 2017. The external operating revenue of joint municipal authorities was EUR 3.6 billion. Operating expenses grew by 10.1 per cent and operating revenue by 9.7 per cent from the previous year’s corresponding quarter. The combined annual contribution margin of joint municipal authorities was EUR 0.4 billion. Thus, the annual contribution margin of joint municipal authorities increased by 8.1 per cent from last year's level.

The investment expenses of joint municipal authorities were EUR 0.2 billion in the first quarter of 2017, which was 44.1 per cent more than one year ago. The loan stock of joint municipal authorities stood at EUR 3.1 billion at the end of the first quarter of 2017, which was 1.0 per cent less than at the end of the previous quarter.

Information on the statistics

The statistics on quarterly local government finances are in the first to third quarters a sample survey that describes the development of the finances of municipalities and joint municipal authorities in Mainland Finland by quarter. For the statistical release on the fourth quarter, data are collected from all municipalities and joint municipal authorities in Mainland Finland.

The data in the statistics on quarterly local government finances are preliminary and they might become revised in coming publications. No quarterly sample survey data by municipality or joint municipal authority are published.

The data published in the statistics on quarterly local government finances are not directly comparable with the data of the statistics on local government finances by quarter because of the different way of handling local government enterprises. In the statistics on quarterly local government finances, local government enterprises are combined with the data on basic municipalities and joint municipal authorities, while this was not done in the statistics on local government finances by quarter published between 2013 and 2015.

1) The population data used were the population of Mainland Finland on 31 December 2016.
2) The population data used were the population of Mainland Finland on 31 December 2016.

Source: Quarterly local government finances, 1st quarter 2017, Statistics Finland

Inquiries: Karen Asplund 029 551 3611, Jens Melfsen 029 551 2578, kuntatalous@stat.fi

Director in charge: Ville Vertanen

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Revision of data (26.5.2017)

Updated 26.05.2017

Referencing instructions:

Official Statistics of Finland (OSF): Quarterly local government finances [e-publication].
ISSN=2343-4139. 1st quarter 2017. Helsinki: Statistics Finland [referred: 22.12.2024].
Access method: http://www.stat.fi/til/ktan/2017/01/ktan_2017_01_2017-05-26_tie_001_en.html