Deficit down by €35 million in 2013

The increase in recurrent revenue of €198.8 million outweighed the added expenditure of €164.0 million, thus resulting in a lower government deficit by €34.8 million.

During January-November 2013, recurrent revenue stood at €2,564.9 million, up by 8.4 per cent over last year. The main contributors to this increase were Income Tax (+€85.0 million), Grants (+€64.9 million), Value Added Tax (+€49.3 million), Social Security (+€29.2 million) and Customs and Excise Duties (+€22.0 million). Conversely, Miscellaneous Receipts registered a decline of €38.5 million.

Total expenditure was recorded at €2,872.1 million, up by 6.1 per cent when compared to the corresponding period in 2012. This was primarily due to added outlays on recurrent and capital expenditures.

Recurrent expenditure increased by €127.5 million, mainly as a result of higher spending on programmes and initiatives (+€77.9 million) and on personal emoluments (+€32.3 million). The programmes and initiatives category advanced by 5.6 per cent, primarily as a result of higher social security benefits by €41.6 million. In addition, the social security state contribution, which also features as revenue, went up by €8.9 million while EU own resources rose by €5.8 million. Increases were also registered in the feed-in tariff (+€4.4 million), the contribution to church schools (+€3.6 million) and in expenditure on the Electoral Commission (+€3.2 million).

Moreover, contributions to government entities added €10.5 million, while operational and maintenance expenditure went up by €6.8 million.

Expenditure on Government's capital projects amounted to €339.2 million. The increase of €34.0 million over the corresponding period last year includes an equity injection of €40 million to the national air carrier, compared to €20.0 million in 2012.

During the period under review, the interest component of the public debt servicing costs rose by €2.5 million and was recorded at €207.4 million.

As illustrated in Table 3, at the end of November, Central Government debt stood at €5,064.9 million, up by €308.3 million over the corresponding period last year. This was the result of higher long-term and short-term borrowing, which added €256.3 million and €74.7 million respectively. On the other hand, foreign borrowing went down by €11.1 million. As a result of consolidation, higher holdings by government funds in MGSs brought about a decline in debt of €16.6 million. The euro coins issued in the name of the Maltese Treasury went up by €5.0 million when compared to the coin stock as at the end of November 2012, and totalled €55 million.