Central government debt down by almost €200 million

Government recorded lower debt in July with figures out today showing a drop of €192.5 million when compared to the same month last year.

The National Statistics Office said debt levels dropped by 3.5% to €5.4 billion.

However, the government deficit in the first seven months, worsened by €12 million when compared to last year and stood at €117 million during the period.

The NSO said recurrent revenue stood at €2.3 billion, up from €2.2 billion. The higher revenue came from more income tax proceeds and VAT, which registered increases of €96.1 million and €34.7 million respectively.

Moreover, increases were also recorded under other categories, including social security contributions (€25.4 million), licences, taxes and fines (€18.1 million) and customs and excise duties (€7 million).

These increases were dampened by lower receipts from grants (-€64.8 million), fees of office (-€11 million) and proceeds from the Central Bank of Malta (-€8 million).

The higher revenue was however, not enough to make up for higher expenditure, which increased by €109.7 million. The largest increases were on personal emoluments (€34 million), contributions to government entities (€30.8 million) and programmes and initiatives (€19.5 million).