In January-April 2018, Government’s Consolidated Fund registered a deficit of €95.9 million, the NSO said today.
Compared to the same period last year, recurrent revenue registered an increase of €8.3 million whereas total expenditure went up by €125.4 million. This resulted in a negative change in the Government’s Consolidated Fund by €117.1 million.
In January-April 2018, recurrent revenue was recorded at €1,229.6 million, up from €1,221.3 million last year. The comparative increase of 0.7 per cent was primarily the result of higher Value Added
Tax and Income Tax which both increased by €26.2 million and €23.2 million respectively. Moreover, increases were also recorded for Social Security (€19.1 million), Licences, Taxes and Fines (€17.1 million), Reimbursements (€5.2 million) and Dividends on Investment (€4.7 million). Conversely, decreases were mainly recorded in Grants (€66.8 million), Central Bank of Malta (€9.0 million), Fees of Office (€7.1 million) and Rents (€4.4 million).
Compared to January-April 2017, total expenditure stood at €1,325.5 million up from €1,200.0 million due to added outlays on recurrent expenditure, capital expenditure and interest expenditure.
Recurrent expenditure stood at €1,157.6 million from €1,048.3 million last year. The main contributors to this increase were Programmes and Initiatives and Personal Emoluments with a rise of €72.6 million and €26.6 million respectively. The main developments in the Programmes and Initiatives category involved added outlays due to social security benefits (€18.9 million), medicines and surgical materials
(€12.2 million), state contribution (€10.1 million which also features as revenue), feed in tariff (€10.0 million), treasury pensions (€7.0 million), provision of spare capacity (€3.5 million), health concession agreements (€2.8 million), church schools (€2.0 million), residential private care (€1.9 million), Jobsplus programmes (€1.5 million) and child care for all (€1.3 million). Contributions to Government Entities and Operational and Maintenance Expenses increased by €9.1 million and €1.0 million respectively.
The interest component of the public debt servicing costs stood at €74.7 million, up from €74.1 million last year.
Government’s capital expenditure witnessed an increase of €15.6 million, and was recorded at €93.2 million. This was mainly the result of higher spending on contribution towards treasury clearance fund
(€21.2 million), national identity management system (€4.3 million) and Foundation for Tomorrow’s Schools (€3.5 million). On the other hand lower outlays related to investment incentives (€7.0 million),
ICT core services agreement (€6.8 million) and construction works and equipment (€1.8 million) were recorded.
At the end of April 2018, Central Government Debt stood at €5,381.4 million, down by €232.2 million over the corresponding month last year. This was the result of lower Malta Government Stocks and Foreign Loans which decreased by €417.6 million and €10.4 million respectively. On the other hand, the new 62+ Malta Government Savings Bond added €99.5 million, Treasury Bills added €94.0 million and Euro coins issued in the name of the Treasury increased by €6.0 million. Higher holdings by government funds in Malta Government Stocks resulted in a decrease in debt of €3.7 million.