Scicluna: Government’s financial plans on track

Finance minister Edward Scicluna welcomed the latest statistics published by the National Statistics Office, insisting that the government’s plans on revenue and expenditure are on track.

Yesterday, the NSO said that over the first five months of the year, recurrent revenue registered an increase of €58.0 million while expenditure went up by €106.1 million when compared to the corresponding period last year, thereby widening the shortfall between recurrent revenue and total expenditure by €48.1 million.

During January-May 2014, recurrent revenue was recorded at €1,154.1 million, up by 5.3 per cent over last year. The main contributors to this increase were Value Added Tax (€26.7 million), Social Security Contributions (€21.1 million) and Income Tax (€17.5 million).

Scicluna said the expenditure was only €4.5 million above what was forecast in this year’s budget, adding that government’s increased investment in health and education were going according to plan.  

Recurrent expenditure increased by €114.1 million, mainly as a result of higher spending on Programmes and Initiatives (€57.0 million) and Contributions to Government Entities (€28.4 million).

The major increases registered in the Programmes and Initiatives category were recorded in medicines and surgical materials (€16.5 million), EU Own Resources (€9.6 million), and the contribution to Church Schools (€4.0 million).

In contrast, social security benefits went down by €12.2 million. In addition, Personal Emoluments and Operational and Maintenance Expenditure increased by €18.7 million and €10.0 million respectively.