In the period January-July 2018, Government’s Consolidated Fund registered a deficit of €117.2 million, the NSO said today.
Compared to the same period last year, total recurrent revenue registered an increase of €97.5 million whereas total expenditure went up by €109.7 million. This resulted in a negative change in the Government’s Consolidated Fund of €12.2 million.
In the period January-July 2018, total recurrent revenue was recorded at €2,258.1 million, up from €2,160.6 million recorded last year. The comparative increase of 4.5 per cent was primarily the result of higher Income Tax and Value Added Tax, which increased by €96.1 million and €34.7 million respectively. Moreover, increases were also recorded under Social Security (€25.4 million), Licences, Taxes and Fines (€18.1 million), Customs and Excise Duties (€7.0 million), Reimbursements (€4.6 million) and Dividends on Investment (€1.5 million).
On the other hand, decreases were mainly recorded in Grants (€64.8 million), Fees of Office (€11.0 million), Central Bank of Malta (€8.0 million), Rents and Miscellaneous Receipts (both €3.1 million). Compared to January-July 2017, total expenditure stood at €2,375.3 million up from €2,265.6 million due to added outlays on recurrent expenditure and capital expenditure which outweighed lower spending on interest payments. Recurrent expenditure stood at €2,067.5 million, up from €1,976.1 million in 2017. The main contributors to this increase were Personal Emoluments (€34.0 million) and Contributions to Government Entities (€30.8 million).
A rise in outlay was also registered by Programmes and Initiatives (€19.5 million) and Operational and Maintenance Expenses (€7.2 million). The main developments in the Programmes and Initiatives category involved added outlays due to health concession agreements (€19.3 million), feed-in-tariff (€10.0 million), social security benefits (€8.5 million), Church schools (€5.2 million), landscaping (€5.0 million), residential care in private homes (€5.0 million) and medicines and surgical materials (€4.2 million).
Conversely, a decline in expenditure was reported under EU presidency 2017 (€20.0 million), EU own resources (€10.3 million), electoral commission activities (€5.2 million) and state contribution (€2.3 million which also features as revenue). The interest component of the public debt servicing costs stood at €120.8 million, a drop from €125.0 million reported last year. Government’s capital expenditure witnessed an increase of €22.6 million from the same period last year, and was recorded at €187.1 million.
This was mainly the result of higher spending on road construction and improvements (€15.3 million), investment incentives (€10.8million) and EU agricultural fund rural development 2014-2020 (€4.4 million). Conversely, a lower outlay was recorded under EU internal security borders and visa (€10.1 million)
By the end of July 2018, Central Government Debt stood at €5,355.5 million, down by €192.5 million over the corresponding month last year. This was the result of lower Malta Government Stocks and Foreign Loans, which decreased by €588.0 million and €10.4 million respectively.
Higher holdings by government funds in Malta Government Stocks also resulted in a decrease in debt of €1.8 million. On the other hand, Treasury Bills added €209.6 million, the 62+ Malta Government Savings Bond added g€192.9 million, and Euro coins issued in the name of the Treasury increased by €5.2 million.