The debt to GDP ratio continued to trend downward and the budget showed a surplus. However, these headline figures obscured a significant shift in the structure of tax revenues.
The share of revenue collected by income taxes fell, while the share for property related taxes such as stamp duty and capital gains tax increased.xv Debt to GNI* - a measure which avoids the distortions encountered when using GDP - stood at 28 per cent in 2007 and peaked at 158 per cent in 2012.xvi In 2017, debt to GNI* stood at 111 per cent.