Government generates surplus of €19.7m in second quarter

Government generates surplus of €19.7m in second quarter – NSO

Monday, 21 October 2019, 12:02 Last update: about 6 years ago

In the second quarter of 2019, the General Government recorded a surplus of €19.7 million, the NSO said today.

During the period April to June of this year, total revenue stood at €1,270.5 million, an increase of €88.9 million when compared to the corresponding quarter in 2018. The key contributors to this growth were Current taxes on income and wealth and Taxes on production and imports with an increase of €46.6 million and €28.5 million respectively.

Other increases were also registered in Capital transfers receivable (€20.4 million) and Market output (€9.0 million). On the other hand, decreases were recorded in Net social contributions receivable (€8.7 million), Property income receivable (€6.7 million) and Current transfers receivable (€0.2 million). Total expenditure in the second quarter amounted to €1,250.9 million, an increase of €186.9 million over the previous quarter in 2018.

Increases were recorded in almost all components of general government expenditure, mainly in Gross capital formation (€46.3 million) and Social beneﬁts and social transfers in kind (€42.3 million). In addition, other increases were registered in Current transfers payable (€34.1 million), Intermediate consumption (€28.6 million), Compensation of employees (€17.5 million), Capital transfers payable (€11.4 million) and Subsidies payable (€9.5 million). On the other hand, Property income payable and Current taxes on income and wealth have registered a decrease of €2.8 million and €0.1 million respectively. In order to achieve compliance with the provisions of ESA 2010, adjustments to the Government’s Consolidated Fund data were made. In the second quarter of 2019, these adjustments brought about a decrease of €41.6 million to the deﬁcit of the Consolidated Fund.

In relation to ﬁnancial transactions in assets, during the second quarter, Currency and deposits registered an increase of €382.7 million over the previous quarter. Other increases were recorded in Other accounts receivable (€112.9 million), Equity and investment fund shares (€4.5 million) and Long-term debt securities (€3.0 million).

Considering the ﬁnancial transactions in liabilities, the major increases were recorded in Other accounts payable (€490.1 million), followed by Long-term loans (€15.0 million). On the other hand, Short-term and long-term debt securities decreased by €7.7 and €4.6 million respectively.

At the end of June, the General Government debt stood at €5,832.0 million, showing an increase of €58.4 million over the corresponding quarter in 2018. Central Government debt increased by €58.3 million, amounting to €5,828.7 million. Currency and deposits stood at €377.2 million, an increase of €103.8 million over June 2018, underpinning the largest increase in Central Government debt.

This includes the euro coins issued in the name of the Treasury considered as liability for Central Government and the 62+ Malta Government Savings Bond, the latter amounting to €291.2 million. Conversely, Long-term debt securities decreased by €61.5 million. Long-term loans registered an increase of €24.8 million and Short-term loans dropped by €6.6 million. The Local Government debt stood at €3.3 million.

The Government guaranteed debt amounted to €1,066.5 million at the end of June 2019, a decrease of €8.5 million when compared to the corresponding period of 2018.