In 2018, Government’s Consolidated Fund reported a deficit of €70.2 million, the National Statistics Office said on Friday.
In 2017, Central government finances had registered a surplus of €183 million.
Between January and December 2018, recurrent revenue totalled €4,559.8 million, €268.6 million or 6.3 per cent higher than the €4,291.2 million reported in revenue by the end of 2017, the NSO said.
The increase was primarily the result of a €106.8 million rise in Value Added Tax, followed by a €92.8 million increase reported under Social Security. Further increases were also registered under Income Tax (€75.7 million), Licences, Taxes and Fines (€54.2 million), Customs and Excise Duties (€9.1 million), Miscellaneous Receipts (€6.8 million), Dividends on Investment (€4.4 million) and Reimbursements (€3.7 million).
Conversely, drops in revenue were reported under Grants (€38.5 million), Fees of Office (€30.4 million), Central Bank of Malta (€15.0 million) and Rents (€0.9 million).
Total expenditure for the whole of 2018 amounted to €4,630.0 million, a 12.7 per cent increase from 2017.
Recurrent expenditure stood at €3,821.4 million, an increase of €278.2 million in comparison to the €3,543.3 million spent in 2017. The main contributor to this increase was a €114.7 million rise reported under Programmes and Initiatives.
Furthermore, rises in outlay were also registered by Contributions to Government Entities (€81.7 million), Personal Emoluments (€60.1 million) and Operational and Maintenance Expenses (€21.7 million).
The interest component of the public debt servicing costs amounted to €203.6 million, €11.5 million less than 2017.
Government’s capital expenditure registered an increase of €254.8 million when compared to 2017 and totalled €605 million. The rise in outlay was due to added expenditure reported on EU structural funds 2014-2020 (€110.7 million), EU cohesion fund 2014-2020 (€47.3 million), road construction and improvements (€28.2 million), EU agricultural fund for rural development 2014 - 2020 (€24.2 million), connecting Europe facility (€11.4 million), investment incentives (€8.8 million), Wasteserv Malta (€8.1 million), information technology in government schools, ICT (both €5.0 million), EU Internal Security Fund - Borders and Visa (€4.8 million) and national identity management systems (€3.8 million).
The difference between total revenue and expenditure resulted in a deficit of €70.2 million being reported in the Government’s Consolidated Fund by the end of 2018, compared to a surplus of €182.7 million registered in 2017.