Home > Statistics > Quarterly local government finances > 2018 > 3rd quarter > Operating expenses of municipalities in Mainland Finland grew by 2.1 per cent in January to September 2018

Published: 30 November 2018

Operating expenses of municipalities in Mainland Finland grew by 2.1 per cent in January to September 2018

The external operating expenses of municipalities in Mainland Finland went up by 2.1 per cent in January to September 2018 from the corresponding period of one year earlier. External operating revenue declined by 1.8 per cent. Municipalities received EUR 18.0 billion in tax revenue and EUR 6.6 billion in central government transfers to local government. Joint municipal authorities’ external operating expenses grew by 6.6 per cent and operating revenue by 5.0 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 70 joint municipal authorities in Mainland Finland.

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

	3rd quarter
	Municipalities		Joint municipal authorities
	2018	Change, %	2018	Change, %
Operating revenue total	4 972	-1,8	11 233	5,0
Operating expenses total	27 039	2,1	10 643	6,6
Annual contribution margin	3 058	-6,3	539	-17,9
Loan stock	15 733	3,8	3 791	17,5

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 amounted to EUR 27.0 billion in the first three quarters of 2018. Compared to the corresponding period of the previous year, operating expenses were 2.1 per cent higher. External operating revenue, in turn, decreased by 1.8 per cent to EUR 5.0 billion.

Municipalities’ tax revenue was 3.1 per cent higher in January to September 2018 than one year earlier. Central government transfers to local government decreased by 0.2 per cent. Municipalities received a total of EUR 18.0 billion in tax revenue and EUR 6.6 billion in central government transfers to local government. Tax funding, which is formed of these two items, amounted to EUR 4,488 per inhabitant, on average, in Mainland Finland municipalities. ¹⁾ The annual contribution margin weakened by 6.3 per cent from the previous year to EUR 3.1 billion.

Municipalities’ investment expenses amounted to EUR 2.2 billion in January to September. The growth from the year before amounted to 5.5 per cent. The loan stock decreased by 1.0 per cent from the end of the previous quarter and was EUR 15.7 billion at the end of September. The loan stock per capita was EUR 2,869.

The operating expenses of joint municipal authorities in Mainland Finland without internal items grew by 6.6 per cent in January to September of this year compared to the corresponding period of the previous year. External operating revenue grew by 5.0 per cent. The operating expenses of joint municipal authorities amounted to EUR 10.6 billion and operating revenue to EUR 11.2 billion.

The investment expenses of joint municipal authorities were EUR 0.7 billion in January to September 2018. This was 17.2 per cent more than in the first three quarters of the previous year. At the end of September, the loan stock was EUR 3.8 billion, which represented a growth of 3.0 per cent from 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 data are released by municipality or joint municipal authority for the 1st, 2nd and 3rd quarters that are based on a sample survey. The financial statement estimate data received from municipalities and joint municipal authorities in the data collection concerning the fourth quarter will be released at unit level starting from data concerning 2017 on Statistics Finland's website in the database Data on finances reported by municipalities and joint municipal authorities .

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 2017.

Source: Quarterly local government finances, 3rd quarter 2018, Statistics Finland

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

Director in charge: Ville Vertanen

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Appendix tables

• Appendix table 1. External quarterly data on the finances of municipalities and joint municipal authorities in Mainland Finland (internal items eliminated), EUR million 1) (30.11.2018)
• Appendix table 2. Quarterly data on the finances of municipalities and joint municipal authorities in Mainland Finland (incl. internal items), EUR million 1) (30.11.2018)

Revisions in these statistics

• Revision of data (30.11.2018)

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Updated 30.11.2018