General government expenditure for 2011 hits over €2,700 million

In 2011, social protection made up 34.3% of total general government expenditure, followed by expenditure on general public services, education and health.

30 January 2013, 12:00am
by Staff Reporter

1 min read

Total general government expenditure for 2011 stood at €2,751.5 million, an increase of €101.3 million compared to the previous year, according to the National Statistics Office.

For 2011, the share of total general government expenditure as a percentage of GDP was estimated at 42 per cent, at par with the level recorded in 2010.

The NSO said this was mainly triggered by higher disbursements on social protection by €37.6 million, primarily observed in pensions. Added expenditure of €30.0 million was recorded in general public services, which was mainly brought about by a rise in property income, i.e. interest expenditure (+€14.5 million) and intermediate consumption (+€7.6 million). Health expenditure recorded additional spending of €21.9 million, mainly on intermediate consumption (+€13.7 million) and compensation of employees (+€10.8 million).

Education went up by €18.5 million, mostly resulting from higher compensation of employees (+€12.3 million). Conversely, environmental protection registered lower outlays of €39.4 million in waste water management as a result of the completion of the Malta South Sewage Infrastructure project.

NSO said the expenditure pattern was consistent over the years, with the major expenditure on Social Protection making up 34.3 per cent of total expenditure in 2011, followed by general public services (15.7 per cent), education (13.9 per cent) and health (13.3 per cent). In contrast, expenditure on Housing and Community amenities had the lowest contribution of total expenditure, followed by defence, representing 0.7 per cent and 2.0 per cent respectively.

For 2011, the largest COFOG groups are old age pensions (€553.3 million) which represent 58.6 per cent of total expenditure on Social Protection, and hospital services (€219.9 million) making up 60 per cent of total expenditure on Health. Moreover, large spending is registered in public debt transactions (€205.4 million) and executive and legislative organs, financial, fiscal and external affairs (€164.1 million).