In the first seven months of 2015, the Government’s Consolidated Fund registered a deficit of €174.9 million, the NSO said today.
Compared to January-July 2014, recurrent revenue recorded an increase of €240.8 million which outweighed the rise in expenditure of €106.2 million, hence resulting in a positive change in the Government’s Consolidated Fund of €134.6 million.
In the first seven months of this year, recurrent revenue was recorded at €1,871.9 million, up from €1,631.1 million last year. The major contributors to the comparative increase of 14.8 per cent were higher proceeds from Grants (€55.8 million), Customs and Excise Duties (€55.1 million) and Income Tax (€54.0 million). On the other hand, proceeds from the Central Bank registered a decrease of €1.0 million.
Compared to the same period last year, total expenditure increased by €106.2 million due to higher recurrent and capital expenditures.
Recurrent expenditure went up by €92.5 million, totalling €1,675.1 million. Programmes and Initiatives recorded the highest increase at €37.3 million. The major developments in this category involved added expenditure on the one-time additional bonus (€7.1 million), medicines and surgical materials (€6.0 million), EU Own Resources (€5.6 million), contribution towards church schools (€4.7 million) and child care for all (€4.4 million).
Conversely, lower outlays on social security benefits of €2.5 million were registered.
Other increases in recurrent expenditure were recorded in Personal Emoluments by €22.7 million, followed by Contributions to Government Entities and Operational and Maintenance Expenses, with a rise of €19.6 and €12.8 million respectively.
The interest component of the public debt servicing costs stood at €131.3 million down by €0.6 million from last year.
Government’s Capital Expenditure was recorded at €240.4 million, up by €14.3 million from last year. This increase was mainly due to added outlays on the acquisition of property for public purposes (€6.1 million), expenditure funded by the external borders fund (€5.9 million), enterprise investment incentives (€4.3 million) and EU funded expenditure on agriculture (€4.2 million). These increases were partially outweighed by a lower equity injection to the national air carrier.
At the end of July 2015, Central Government Debt stood at €5,399.1 million, an increase of €134.3 million over the corresponding period last year. This was the result of higher Malta Government Stocks by €345.6 million only partially outweighed by lower Treasury Bills and Foreign Loans by €158.5 million and €10.6 million respectively. As a result of consolidation, higher holdings by government funds in Malta Government Stocks resulted in a reduction in debt of €48.0 million. The Euro coins issued in the name of the Treasury went up by €5.7 million when compared to the coin stock as at the end of July 2014, and totalled €64.2 million.