Vanuatu: Goods and services expense (% of expense)

Key figures

What the numbers say

In 2023, Vanuatu's goods and services expense (% of expense) rose 0.49 percentage points on 2022 (from 29.3% to 29.79%).

Across the 17 yearly changes before that (1996 to 2022), the average change was +0.1 percentage points and a typical year strayed about 4.11 percentage points from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 0.1 standard deviations above that average, so it was an ordinary year: it sits within the range of normal year-to-year movement.

On record, the biggest yearly rise was 7.25 percentage points in 1997 and the biggest yearly fall was 10.17 percentage points in 1998. The numbers show how large and when, not why; for the cause, look at what happened in that country in those years.

From 2014 to 2023 there is no clear straight-line trend: a straight line explains 5% of the movement over 10 observed years, so the value is moving around more than it is heading anywhere.

Worked out from the yearly values above. How the checks work: standard deviation, z-scores and straight-line trends.

How it compares

In 2023, Vanuatu had the 4th highest value of the 79 economies reporting that year. Higher is not always better: for some indicators the lowest value is the one to aim for. See the full ranking.

Closest to Vanuatu in the 2023 ranking

• Tonga — 1st of 79: 46.54%
• Samoa — 2nd of 79: 44.77%
• Ukraine — 3rd of 79: 35.7%
• Kiribati — 5th of 79: 29.38%
• United Arab Emirates — 6th of 79: 28.94%
• Botswana — 7th of 79: 28.41%

What this measures

Goods and services include all government payments in exchange for goods and services used for the production of market and nonmarket goods and services. Use of goods and services for own account capital formation is excluded. This indicator is expressed as percentage of total expenses which is any decrease in net worth resulting from a transaction.

Limitations: For most countries central government finance data have been consolidated into one account, but for others only budgetary central government accounts are available. Countries reporting budgetary data are noted in the country metadata. Because budgetary accounts may not include all central government units (such as social security funds), they usually provide an incomplete picture. In federal states the central government accounts provide an incomplete view of total public finance. Data on government revenue and expense are collected by the IMF through questionnaires to member countries and by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

Regional and income-group figures are computed by the World Bank as a median.

All 21 values

Goods and services expense (% of expense) in nearby economies

• Australia — 10.76% (2022)
• Cambodia — 15.05% (2023)
• Fiji — 17.36% (2023)
• Kiribati — 29.38% (2023)
• Korea, Rep. — 12.49% (2023)
• Lao PDR — 17.03% (2022)
• Macao SAR, China — 18.01% (2023)
• Malaysia — 11.57% (2023)
• Marshall Islands — 25.88% (2020)
• Micronesia, Fed. Sts. — 32.92% (2020)

More public sector data for Vanuatu

• Net lending (+) / net borrowing (-) (current LCU) — 943.13 million (2023)
• Net lending (+) / net borrowing (-) (% of GDP) — 0.67% (2023)
• Grants and other revenue (current LCU) — 22.69 billion (2023)
• Grants and other revenue (% of revenue) — 49.28% (2023)
• Revenue, excluding grants (current LCU) — 34.2 billion (2023)
• Revenue, excluding grants (% of GDP) — 24.16% (2023)
• Taxes on goods and services (current LCU) — 17.96 billion (2023)
• Taxes on goods and services (% of revenue) — 39.01% (2023)
• Taxes on international trade (current LCU) — 4.9 billion (2023)
• Taxes on international trade (% of revenue)

Reading data like this

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Questions people ask

What is Vanuatu's goods and services expense (% of expense)?

29.79% in 2023, according to the World Bank (World Development Indicators).

How has it changed since 1990?

It is up 0.87 percentage points from 28.92% in 1990. The highest value was 39.85% in 1997 and the lowest 26.13% in 2012.

How does Vanuatu rank?

4th highest of 79 economies with data for 2023.

Is the latest change in goods and services expense (% of expense) unusual for Vanuatu?

In 2023, Vanuatu's goods and services expense (% of expense) rose 0.49 percentage points on 2022 (from 29.3% to 29.79%). Across the 17 yearly changes before that (1996 to 2022), the average change was +0.1 percentage points and a typical year strayed about 4.11 percentage points from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 0.1 standard deviations above that average, so it was an ordinary year: it sits within the range of normal year-to-year movement.

Source

World Bank, World Development Indicators, indicator GC.XPN.GSRV.ZS, licensed CC BY 4.0. Original source: Government Finance Statistics Yearbook and data files, International Monetary Fund (IMF) Figures are fetched from the World Bank API and refreshed monthly; see the series on data.worldbank.org. The full definition and method are in the World Bank's metadata glossary. Comparisons use the same World Bank release.

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