Social protection remained the core function of government expenditure in 2022, representing 25.6 per cent of total General Government expenditure, followed by expenditure on Economic affairs and Health, the NSO said Monday.
In 2022, total General Government expenditure increased by €287.7 million over 2021, amounting to €6,866.2 million. Social protection was the primary expenditure function amounting to €1,759.5 million, an increase of €110.2 million over 2021 with the main increase reported in social benefits (€100.7 million).
A total of €1,550.8 million was spent on Economic affairs, an increase of €113.3 million over 2021. The expenditure on energy support initiatives, intended to lessen the effects of the energy crisis, stood at €312.2 million, while a further €105.2 million was spent on government measures related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Additionally, €144.7 million was directed towards initiatives supporting the restructuring of the national airline. These three government measures were recorded as subsidies.
Total outlay on Health stood at €966.1 million, a decline of €31.9 million, mainly as a result of lower expenditure on public health when compared to the previous year. This was followed by expenditure on Education and General Public Services, which amounted to €872.9 million and €839.9 million, respectively. The increase in Education expenditure was mainly on account of higher compensation of employees (€19.8 million), gross capital formation (€10.5 million) and intermediate consumption (€9.5 million).
In 2022, the highest share of General Government expenditure was spent on Social protection, which accounted for 25.6 per cent of the total outlay, registering an increase of 0.6 percentage points over 2021. This was followed by Economic affairs (22.6 per cent), Health (14.1 per cent), Education (12.7 per cent) and General Public Services (12.3 per cent). Defence accounted for the lowest share of total expenditure, followed by Housing and community amenities, amounting to 1.2 per cent and 1.6 per cent, respectively.
Similar to previous years, when considering the components of General Government expenditure by function for 2022, a considerable share of government outlay was in the form of Wages and salaries (26.7 per cent), Social benefits in cash or in kind (21.7 per cent), Intermediate consumption (19.5 per cent) and Subsidies (12.2 per cent).
Table 5 provides a detailed breakdown of General Government expenditure by examining the second level function of the COFOG classification. The largest share of government expenditure was spent on Old age (€1,081.7 million), which represents 15.8 per cent of total General Government expenditure. This was followed by expenditure on Hospital services, which amounted to €563.2 million, or 58.3 per cent of expenditure on Health. Furthermore, a considerable share of General Government outlay was spent on Executive and legislative organs, financial, fiscal and external affairs (€481.3 million), followed by a total of €451.6 million and €428.7 million on General economic, commercial and labour affairs, and Fuel and energy, respectively.