In January-April 2016, Government’s Consolidated Fund registered a deficit of €77.5 million, the NSO said today.

Compared to last year, recurrent revenue registered an increase of €14.3 million whilst total expenditure went down by €16.8 million. This resulted in a positive change in the Government’s Consolidated Fund of €31.1 million.

In January-April 2016, recurrent revenue was recorded at €1,063.0 million, up from €1,048.7 million last year. The comparative increase of 1.4 per cent was the result of higher Income Tax (€43.5 million), Social Security (€26.9 million) and Licenses, Taxes and Fines (€21.7 million), among others. Conversely, a major decline was recorded in proceeds from Grants (€98.3 million).

In the first four months this year, total expenditure stood at €1,140.5 million down from €1,157.3 million last year mainly as result of lower spending on Capital Expenditure and Interest Payments which were partially offset by higher outlays on Recurrent Expenditure.

Recurrent Expenditure stood at €996.2 million from €948.1 million last year. This was due to higher outlays on all components of recurrent expenditure whereby Contributions to Government Entities went up by €15.0 million followed by added Personal Emoluments (€12.5 million) and Operational and Maintenance Expenses (€11.5 million). Moreover, Programmes and Initiatives went up by €9.1 million due to higher social security benefits (€10.6 million), outlays towards the CHOGM (€5.1 million) and a rise in the social security state contribution, which also features as revenue (€9.1 million). These were partially offset by lower EU Own Resources (€15.8 million).

The Interest component of the public debt servicing costs stood at €77.0 million, down from €78.4 million last year.

Government’s capital expenditure witnessed a decline of €63.5 million, and was recorded at €67.3 million. This was primarily the result of lower spending on EU funded projects mainly in the environment and agriculture sector. Other declines were registered in external borders fund and the acquisition of property for public purposes.

Table 3 illustrates the Government Expenditure by COFOG category. The Classification of the Functions of Government (COFOG) classifies government expenditure data by the purpose for which the funds are used.

At the end of April 2016, Central Government Debt stood at €5,591.4 million, up by €227.3 million over the corresponding period last year. This was the result of higher Malta Government Stocks and Treasury Bills, which added €167.6 million and €123.5 million respectively. On the other hand, Domestic Loans with Commercial Banks and Foreign Loans went down by €56.4 million and €10.6 million respectively. Higher holdings by government funds in Malta Government Stocks resulted in a decrease in debt of €4.5 million. The Euro coins issued in the name of the Treasury went up by €7.8 million when compared to the coin stock as at the end of April 2015, and totalled €68.6 million.