January-September 2017, Government’s Consolidated Fund registered a surplus of €56.4 million, the NSO said today.
Compared to the same period last year, recurrent revenue registered an increase of €346.7 million whereas total expenditure went up by €226.6 million. This resulted in a positive change in the Government’s Consolidated Fund by €120.1 million.
In January-September 2017, recurrent revenue was recorded at €2,972.3 million, up from €2,625.6 million last year. The comparative increase of 13.2 per cent was primarily the result of higher Income Tax and Value Added Tax which increased by €83.4 million and €78.5 million respectively. Moreover, increases were also recorded for Social Security (€48.3 million), Grants (€40.0 million), Fees of Office
(€35.3 million), Customs and Excise Duties (€27.2 million), Reimbursements (€18.9 million), Licences, Taxes and Fines (€16.5 million) and Dividends on Investment (€4.2 million). Conversely, decreases were mainly recorded in Miscellaneous Receipts (€4.5 million) and Rents (€1.0 million).
Compared to January-September last year, total expenditure stood at €2,915.9 million up from €2,689.3 million due to added outlays on recurrent expenditure and capital expenditure which outweighed lower spending on interest payments.
Recurrent expenditure stood at €2,543.0 million from €2,313.4 million last year. The main contributors to this increase were Programmes and Initiatives and Personal Emoluments with a rise of €170.4 million and €30.4 million respectively. The main developments in the Programmes and Initiatives category involved added outlays due to social security benefi ts (€34.7 million), Health Concession Agreements (€25.2 million), higher EU Own Resources (€21.7 million), EU Presidency 2017 (€17.1 million), state contribution (€14.9 million which also features as revenue), Contingency Reserve (€9.8 million), Jobsplus Programmes (€8.1 million), Electoral Commission activities (€5.7 million), Medicines and Surgical materials (€4.8 million), Treasury Pensions (€4.6 million), solid waste management (€3.3 million), child care for all (€3.3 million), public social partnership (€3.1 million), and Energy Supply Measures (€1.1 million). Contributions to Government Entities and Operational and Maintenance
Expenses increased by €16.3 million and €12.5 million respectively.
The interest component of the public debt servicing costs stood at €163.0 million, down from €170.2 million last year.
Government’s capital expenditure witnessed an increase of €4.2 million, and was recorded at €210.0 million. This was mainly the result of higher spending on investment incentives (€8.2 million), tomorrow schools (€2.6 million), construction works and equipment (€2.6 million) and road construction improvements (€1.8 million). On the other hand lower outlays related to film industry incentives (€6.1 million) and acquisition of property for public services (€5.9 million) were recorded.
At the end of September 2017, Central Government Debt stood at €5,560.9 million, up by €31.8 million over the corresponding month last year. This was the result of higher Malta Government Stocks and the new 62+ Malta Government Savings Bond which added €130.7 million and €69.9 million respectively.
Moreover Euro coins issued in the name of the Treasury increased by €6.3 million. On the other hand,
Treasury Bills and Foreign Loans went down by €140.4 million and €10.4 million respectively. Higher holdings by government funds in Malta Government Stocks resulted in a decrease in debt of €24.4 million.