€50 million surplus over two-month period

In January-February 2015, Government’s Consolidated Fund registered a surplus of €49.7 million.

During the first two months of the year, recurrent revenue registered an increase of €127.2 million which outweighed the increase in expenditure of €3.0 million, thereby resulting in a positive change in the Government’s Consolidated Fund of €124.2 million.

In January-February, recurrent revenue was recorded at €610.0 million, up from €482.8 million last year. The major contributors to the comparative increase of 26.3 per cent were higher proceeds from Grants by €103.1 million. Moreover, increases were registered in Income Tax (€9.4 million), Licences, Taxes and Fines (€5.5 million) and Value Added Tax (€5.0 million). On the other hand, Fees of Office registered a fall of €1.3 million.

Compared to January-February last year, higher spending was registered with regard to recurrent and capital expenditure whereas interest payments declined marginally, resulting in an increase in total expenditure of €3.0 million.

Recurrent expenditure went up by €1.8 million, totalling €461.0 million. The largest increases were recorded in Personal Emoluments (€7.0 million) and Operational and Maintenance Expenses (€2.7 million).

Conversely, lower outlays were registered in Programmes and Initiatives by €8.0 million. The declines in the Programmes and Initiatives category were recorded in social security benefits (€9.8 million), feed-in tariff (€5.0 million), medicines and surgical materials (€4.0 million) and eco reduction (€3.4 million).

These were partially offset by increased outlays on the contribution towards Church schools (€9.6 million), public service obligations (€2.5 million) and childcare for all (€2.5 million).

The interest component of the public debt servicing costs for the first two months of 2015 declined marginally to €35.9 million from €36.4 million last year.

In addition, Government’s Capital Expenditure stood at €63.4 million from €61.7 million last year. This was mainly due to a lower equity injection to the national air carrier which was partially outweighed by added outlays on enterprise investment incentives (€4.1 million), EU funded expenditure on agriculture (€3.4 million) and acquisition of property for public purposes (€3.1 million).

At the end of February 2014, Central Government Debt stood at €5,199.3 million, up by €104.3 million, over the corresponding period last year. This was the result of higher Malta Government Stocks, which added €288.7 million.

On the other hand, Treasury Bills and Foreign Loans went down by €153.2 million and €10.5 million respectively. As a result of consolidation, higher holdings by government funds in Malta Government Stocks resulted in a reduction in debt of €25.9 million. The Euro coins issued in the name of the Treasury went up by €5.3 million when compared to the coin stock as at the end of February 2014, and totalled €60.1 million.

In a statement, the government said its income was €38 million more than its expenditure. It said, that the government was in a position to reduce national debt for the first time in recent history.

National debt decreased to €5.2 billion in February from €5.4 million in October. Over the past four months, national debt decreased by €177 million – an average rate of €45 million per month.

“These statistics confirm the government’s fiscal success announced in Budget 2015. The government remains committed to reduce national debt through public investment. Thanks to economic growth and optimism felt by the families, this government is winning the fight against national debt,” it said.

The government also said that debt created by the previous administration would be fully repaid by the end of the legislature.