In the period January-October 2018, Government’s Consolidated Fund registered a deficit of €24.1 million, the NSO said today.
Between January and October 2018, recurrent revenue rose by €213.9 million and amounted to €3,496.0 million. This represented a 6.5 per cent increase from the €3,282.1 million reported in revenue during the corresponding 10 months of 2017.
The increase was primarily the result of higher Income Tax (€103.6 million). Further increases were also registered under Value Added Tax (€71.6 million), Social Security (€68.1 million), Licences, Taxes and Fines (€42.8 million), Customs and Excise Duties (€10.9 million), Dividends on Investment (€1.6 million) and Rents (€0.4 million). Conversely, drops in revenue were mainly recorded in Grants (€48.0 million), Fees of Office (€19.3 million), Central Bank of Malta (€14.0 million) and Reimbursements (€3.8 million). Total expenditure by the end of October 2018 stood at €3,520.0 million, reflecting an increase of €242.3 million or 7.4 per cent from 2017.
Recurrent expenditure totalled €3,018.9 million, €159.9 million higher than the corresponding amount reported by the end of October 2017. The main contributor to this increase was a €54.6 million rise reported under Programmes and Initiatives. Furthermore, rises in outlay were also registered by Personal Emoluments, Contributions to Government Entities (both €49.5 million) and Operational and Maintenance Expenses (€6.3 million).
The main developments in the Programmes and Initiatives category involved added outlays due to social security benefits (€27.2 million), state contribution (€23.3 million which also features as revenue), tax relief measures (€11.2 million), Malta Freeport interest payments (€9.5 million), health concession agreements (€8.9 million), feed in tariff (€5.7 million) and solid waste management strategy (€4.9 million). The rise in expenditure was slightly offset by reduced outlays reported under EU presidency 2017 (€25.5 million), electoral commission activities (€5.6 million) and medicines and surgical materials (€4.9 million).
The interest component of the public debt servicing costs amounted to €175.0 million, a €6.7 million drop from the €181.7 million reported in 2017. Government’s capital expenditure registered an increase of €89.1 million from the same period last year, and was recorded at €326.1 million. This was mainly the result of higher outlay on EU structural funds 2014-2020 (€24.4 million), road construction and improvements (€23.9 million), EU cohesion funds 2014-2020 (€16.7 million), EU internal security fund - borders and visa (€8.7 million), EU European agricultural fund for rural development 2014-2020 (€6.7 million), investment incentives (€5.0 million) and national identity management systems (€3.1 million).
The difference between total revenue and expenditure resulted in a defi cit of €24.1 million being reported in the Government’s Consolidated Fund by the end of October 2018, compared to a surplus of €4.3 million in the same period in 2017. The main catalysts in the diff erence were increased outlays in both recurrent and capital expenditure.
By the end of October 2018, Central Government Debt stood at €5,211.8 million, a €394.1 million decrease from the corresponding month last year. This was the result of lower Malta Government Stocks and Foreign Loans that decreased by €635.6 million and €10.4 million respectively. Higher holdings by government funds in Malta Government Stocks also resulted in a decrease in debt of €3.3 million. On the other hand, Treasury Bills added €155.6 million, the 62+ Malta Government Savings Bond added €93.1 million, and Euro coins issued in the name of the Treasury increased by g€6.5 million.