13 Jan 2023, 21:03

2022-2023 Economic Figures Announced
The United Duchies government have unveiled the 2022-2023 Economic figures for the country. The figures showed in the 2022-2023 period the economy grew to €17,021,269,788,016.20 with the population growing to 114,868,755 with looser immigration caps for a GDP per capita of €148,180.15. The currency has grown in strength to 1.50 Euro per Dux Libra.

Exports grew to €8,340,422,196,127.94 but imports rose faster to €7,676,592,674,395.31 leaving the net figure at €663,829,521,732.63 in the positive. The results were hailed by the government as an example of how their policies of "balancing business and workers interests and power boosts economic growth" while the UoD suggested growth could have been even stronger with more "pro-business policies"

The government announced they projected tax receipts and revenue across all Duchies for the year to be €8,068,081,879,519.68 with government expenditure to be €8,017,018,070,155.63 under new plans. This would increase government spending to 47.1% of GDP from 47%. The Revenue and taxes for government as a % of GDP are expected to decrease to 47.4% of GDP leaving a smaller surplus this year with tax cuts having been focused on the lowest income families and small busineses and Co-operatives. The debt to GDP ratio due to growth and paying down debt dropped to 28.55% of GDP a new low in history with some saying that shows now is the time to expand lending to increase the role of the government in society.Other key figures included a rise in median income for families to €103,874.29 a year with much more being spent on services and experiences over goods. There was bad news on the housing market front however with house prices rising to over 1 million Euros on average for the first time in history.

The government announced plans to increase Social Benefits for all groups by at least 10% year on year in order to spread the wealth with the Social Protection Budget growing to €921,783,673,523.80 a 31.92% increase year on year, other big increases are the Health Budget with an increase of 26.77% to €1,795,812,047,714.86 per year and the Business ,Science, Industry and Agriculture budget with a 28.00% increase to €485,618,569,174.49 per year. There were big increases in Education and Public Services also. The 4 biggest budgets Health with €1,795,812,047,714.86 per year , Education with €1,234,620,782,803.97 per year , Social Protection with €921,783,673,523.80 per year and Transport with €761,616,716,664.79 per year much focused towards green mobility for the future.