The government appears to be aiming to raise €15 million from the provision of Maltese citizenship to investors willing to pay €650,000 for the privilege, if the Draft Budgetary Plan issued this week is any indication.

Prime Minister Joseph Muscat had earlier said that he expects the scheme to generate €30 million.

The plan states that €15 million are to be raised from “fees of office,” specifically from a “revenue measure to be announced in the Budget 2014 that would provide a service against a fee.”

The Finance Ministry would not confirm or deny whether this referred to the citizenship scheme, with a spokesman telling this newspaper, unsurprisingly, that “all revenue measures pertaining to the coming Budget will be announced on Budget day.”

But no other discretionary measures described in the draft budget appear to fit the bill, and the planned citizenship scheme is expected to come into force next year. However, according to Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, the scheme is expected to raise €30 million next year.

The draft budget also confirms that the government is expecting to raise €23.9 million from new indirect tax measures: once more, of course, the details will only be known on Budget Day. Finance Minister Edward Scicluna had been reported to be aiming to raise €50 million through new taxes, but he denied on Monday ever stating that taxes would rise by this much.

The planned increase in indirect taxes, however, is less than the planned increase in expenditure on “expansionary measures” which will be announced in the Budget, including measures that are intended to spur economic growth and employment. These measures are expected to cost an additional €27.7 million next year.

Ultimately, the government’s discretionary measures are expected to improve the government’s financial position by €50.9 million, in line with its aim to bring the deficit down to 2.1% of the GDP next year.

Both government revenue and expenditure are expected to increase next year: government revenue should increase from 41.9% to 43.1% of the GDP, whereas expenditure should increase from 44.6% to 45.3%.