In January-August 2017, Government’s Consolidated Fund registered a surplus of €31.1 million, the NSO said today.
Compared to the same period last year, recurrent revenue registered an increase of €261.2 million whereas total expenditure went up by €150.9 million. This resulted in a positive change in the Government’s Consolidated Fund by €110.2 million.
In January-August 2017, recurrent revenue was recorded at €2,583.8 million, up from €2,322.6 million last year. The comparative increase of 11.2 per cent was primarily the result of higher Income Tax and Value Added Tax which increased by €62.1 million and €43.2 million respectively. Moreover, increases were also recorded for Social Security (€38.7 million), Grants (€35.4 million), Fees of Office
(€33.6 million), Customs and Excise Duties (€25.4 million), Licences, Taxes and Fines (€11.5 million), Dividends on Investment (€6.7 million) and Reimbursements (€6.3 million). Conversely, decreases were mainly recorded in Miscellaneous Receipts (€1.3 million).
Compared to January-August last year, total expenditure stood at €2,552.7 million up from €2,401.8 million due to added outlays on recurrent expenditure which outweighed lower spending on capital expenditure and interest payments.
Recurrent expenditure stood at €2,221.6 million from €2,063.7 million last year. The main contributors to this increase were Programmes and Initiatives and Personal Emoluments with a rise of €133.7 million and €25.6 million respectively. The main developments in the Programmes and Initiatives category involved added outlays due to social security benefi ts (€34.6 million), Health Concession Agreements (€25.2 million), higher EU Own Resources (€21.8 million), EU Presidency 2017 (€15.8 million), state contribution (€11.0 million which also features as revenue), Jobsplus Programmes (€7.1 million), Electoral Commission activities (€5.5 million), solid waste management (€3.2 million), child care for all (€3.0 million), public social partnership (€2.5 million), allocation to local councils (€1.5 million) and Medicines and Surgical Materials (€1.1 million). Contributions to Government Entities increased by €2.0 million. Decreases were registered in Operational and Maintenance Expenses (€3.5 million).
The interest component of the public debt servicing costs stood at €144.4 million, down from €149.8 million last year.
Government’s capital expenditure witnessed a decrease of €1.6 million, and was recorded at €186.7 million. This was mainly the result of lower spending on Film Industry incentives (€6.2 million) and EU external borders fund (€3.8 million). On the other hand higher outlays related to EU internal security borders and VISA (€5.9 million) and investment incentives (€3.6 million) were recorded.
At the end of August 2017, Central Government Debt stood at €5,545.5 million, down by €9.1 million over the corresponding month last year. This was the result of higher Malta Government Stocks and
Euro coins issued in the name of the Treasury, which added €155.7 million and €6.8 million respectively.
On the other hand, Treasury Bills and Foreign Loans went down by €139.2 million and €10.4 million respectively. Higher holdings by government funds in Malta Government Stocks resulted in a decrease in debt of €22.1 million.