Government consolidated fund registers €141 million deficit in 2015

In the first eight months of 2015, Government’s Consolidated Fund registered a deficit of €141.0 million.

Compared to January-August 2014, recurrent revenue recorded an increase of €235.6 million which outweighed the rise in expenditure of €166.7 million, hence resulting in a positive change in the Government’s Consolidated Fund of €68.9 million.

In the first eight months of this year, recurrent revenue was recorded at €2,222.4 million, up from €1,986.8 million last year. The major contributors to the comparative increase of 11.9 per cent were higher proceeds from Income Tax (€64.9 million) and Customs and Excise Duties (€63.3 million).

Moreover, increases were registered in Grants (€23.9 million), Social Security (€19.9 million) and Licences, Taxes and Fines (€19.0 million), among others. Conversely, proceeds from the Central Bank of Malta recorded a decline of €1.0 million.

Compared to the same period last year, total expenditure increased by €166.7 million due to higher recurrent and capital expenditures.

Recurrent expenditure went up by €148.5 million, totalling €1,939.3 million. Programmes and Initiatives recorded the highest increase at €83.0 million.

The major developments in this category involved added expenditure on social security benefits by €38.0 million followed by increases in medicines and surgical materials (€7.6 million), outlays on the provision for spare capacity electricity and the one-time additional bonus of €7.0 million each, social security state contribution, which also features as revenue (€6.3 million), contribution towards Church schools (€5.2 million) and child care for all (€4.7 million).

Other increases in recurrent expenditure were recorded in Contributions to Government Entities (€25.0 million), Personal Emoluments (€23.1 million) and Operational and Maintenance Expenses (€17.4 million).

The interest component of the public debt servicing costs stood at €152.7 million, up by €1.0 million from last year.

Government’s capital expenditure was recorded at €271.4 million, up by €17.3 million from last year. This increase was mainly due to outlays on the autoclave animal waste facility of €10.2 million, added expenditure funded by the external borders fund (€6.0 million), an increase in the acquisition of property for public purposes (€5.5 million) and enterprise investment incentives (€4.3 million). These increases were partially outweighed by a lower equity injection to the national air carrier.

At the end of August 2015, Central Government Debt stood at €5,396.5 million, an increase of €5.9 million over the corresponding period last year. This was the result of higher Malta Government Stocks by €167.5 million, partially outweighed by lower Treasury Bills and Foreign Loans by €109.0 million and €10.6 million respectively.

As a result of consolidation, higher holdings by government funds in Malta Government Stocks resulted in a reduction in debt of €48.0 million. The Euro coins issued in the name of the Treasury went up by €5.9 million when compared to the coin stock as at the end of August 2014, and totalled €65.0 million.