Public corporations established by government or by other public corporations have registered a deficit of €22.7 million in 2020, a decrease of €118.9 million when compared to 2019, a National Statistics Office statistic showed.
The total revenue of public corporations in 2020 was that of €1,251.2 million, €285.9 million lower than that of the previous year, the main source of revenue being the income generated from own operations with a share of 86.8%.
The total expenditure of public corporations was that of €1,273.8 million, a decrease of €167 million when compared to 2019. The main expenditure items were direct operating expenses, and wages and salaries, which accounted for 69.6% and 16.9% of total expenditure respectively, the statistic showed.
The statistic read that the Covid-19 pandemic impacted the financial performance of several public corporations. Statistics were based on all public corporations, excluding the Central Bank of Malta, as this public corporation’s financial assets and liabilities are considerably higher than other public corporations, which would heavily impact the overall results.
In 2020, there were 52 public corporations, including the Central Bank of Malta.
Among the most notable public corporations included were Air Malta, Enemalta, the Malta Business Registry, Indis Malta, Heritage Malta, the Automated Revenue Management Services (ARMS), the Malta Financial Services Authority, the Malta Freeport Corporation, and the Malta Stock Exchange, among others.
An analysis by the Statistical classification of economic activities in the European Community (NACE) showed that the sector with highest revenue and expenditure of public corporations was the Electricity, gas, steam, and air conditioning supply sector, amounting to €482.4 million and €498.3 million, respectively.
Other key sectors were the Wholesale and retail trade and Transport and storage sectors, the NSO statistic read. Moreover, the Transport and storage sector recorded the highest deficit, which totalled €64.2 million, followed by the Electricity, gas, steam, and air conditioning supply sector which registered a deficit of €15.9 million.
The Electricity, gas, steam, and air conditioning supply sector had the highest net worth of €666.4 million, followed by the Real estate activities sector (€296.3 million) and the Construction sector (€164.5 million), it showed.