Adds Prime Minister's comments.

The General Government de?cit for 2013 stood at €203.0 million, or 2.8 per cent of GDP. The gross consolidated debt amounted to €5,243.1 million, or 73.0 per cent of GDP, the NSO said.

In 2013, General Government net borrowing (or de?cit) was recorded at €203.0 million, down from €224.7 million for 2012. Last year, General Government de?cit was equivalent to 2.8 per cent of GDP, down from 3.3 per cent for 2012.  

At the end of 2013, the General Government nominal gross consolidated debt amounted to €5,243.1 million, or 73.0 per cent of GDP, up from €4,871.2 million, or 70.8 per cent for 2012.  

2013 data

To arrive at the General Government Sector’s de? cit for 2013, adjustments are made to the balance of the Government’s consolidated fund, which amounted to -€223.1 million. Positive corrections included the time-adjusted cash transactions (€41.9 million), other accounts receivable and payable (€22.6 million) and the non-?nancial transactions in the treasury clearance fund (€4.9 million). On the other hand, the main downward adjustments were the equity injection to the national air carrier (€40.0 million), the net borrowing of Extra Budgetary Units (€7.4 million), interest received not included in the consolidated fund (€2.8 million) and the adjustment for stock premium proceeds (€1.6 million).

Reporting and Updates

On 28 March, Malta submitted its report on government de?cit and debt levels for the years 2010-2013. This was done in accordance with Council Regulation (EC) No. 479/2009, as amended, as well as in accordance with the Code of Best Practice adopted by the Eco?n Council on 18 February 2003.

Compared to the previous submission of 30 September, the de?cit of the General Government for 2012 and 2010 was revised marginally upwards by €0.8 million and €2.1 million respectively. Revisions were mainly recorded in the other accounts receivable and payable for 2012 (+€1.9 million) and 2010 (+€1.8 million). Moreover, the availability of audited ?nancial statements for both EBUs and Local Councils resulted in minor revisions in the General Government de?cit for 2012 and 2011.

The General Government debt was revised marginally in 2012.

 

PM satisfied with result

In comments to the media, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat expressed satisfaction at the result.

“This is a very positive result that shows that we are delivering on our promises. As promised we reduced the deficit to below 3% without raising taxes, with a wise spending review that did not hurt people and with economic growth. I am very satisfied with this result and I think that it will give courage to the Maltese economy.”