In January-March 2016, Government’s Consolidated Fund registered a deficit of €123.3 million.
Government Finance Data: January-March 2016
Compared to the first quarter of last year, recurrent revenue registered a decline of €29.8 million whilst total expenditure increased by €8.2 million, thereby widening the shortfall in the Government’s Consolidated Fund by €38.0 million.
In January-March, recurrent revenue was recorded at €744.9 million, down from €774.7 million last year. The major contributors to the comparative decrease of 3.8 per cent were lower proceeds from Grants by €113.9 million. Conversely, major increases were recorded in Income Tax (€25.3 million), Social Security (€22.4 million), Customs and Excise duties (€12.1 million), Licenses, Taxes and Fines (€10.2 million) and Value Added Tax (€9.1 million).
In the first quarter of 2016, total expenditure stood at €868.2 million up from €860.0 million last year mainly as result of higher spending on recurrent expenditure and interest payments. These were partially outweighed by lower outlays on capital projects.
Recurrent expenditure stood at €758.1 million from €715.4 million last year. This increase was primarily the result of higher Contributions to Government Entities by €21.8 million.
Personal Emoluments and Operational and Maintenance Expenses also registered increases by €9.1 million and €6.4 million respectively. Programmes and Initiatives went up by €5.4 million due to higher social security benefits (€9.7 million) and a rise in the social security state contribution, which also features as revenue (€5.1 million). These were partially offset by lower EU Own Resources (€7.4 million) and medicine and surgical materials (€2.0 million).
The interest component of the public debt servicing costs stood at €58.0 million, up from €56.3 million last year.
Government’s capital expenditure witnessed a decline of €36.3 million, and was recorded at €52.1 million. This fall was primarily due to the closure of the EU funds programming period 2007-2013 mainly reflected in lower outlays on sewage, agriculture and education.
Other declines were recorded in the external borders fund and the acquisition of property for public purposes.
At the end of March 2016, Central Government Debt stood at €5,558.7 million, up by €193.2 million over the corresponding period last year. This was the result of higher Treasury Bills and Malta Government Stocks which added €159.5 million and €87.6 million respectively.
On the other hand, Domestic Loans and Foreign Loans with commercial banks went down by €56.4 million and €10.6 million respectively. As a result of consolidation, lower holdings by government funds in Malta Government Stocks resulted in a rise in debt of €5.1 million.
The Euro coins issued in the name of the Treasury went up by €8.0 million when compared to the coin stock as at the end of March 2015, and totalled €68.4 million.