In January, the deficit of the Government’s Consolidated Fund amounted to €89.0 million, recurrent revenue registered a decline of €20.4 million while expenditure increased by €10.4 million when compared to the corresponding month last year, thereby widening the shortfall between recurrent revenue and total expenditure by €30.8 million, the National Statistics Office reported today.

At the end of January, Central Government debt stood at €5,017.1 million, up by €251.7 million over the corresponding period last year. This increase was the result of higher long-term and short-term borrowing, which added €259.2 million and €15.3 million respectively. On the other hand, foreign borrowing went down by €11.0 million.

As a result of consolidation, higher holdings by government funds in MGSs resulted in a reduction in debt of €16.6 million.

During the first month this year, recurrent revenue was recorded at €198.1 million, down from €218.5 million last year. The comparative decrease of 9.3 per cent was mainly the result of lower returns from Grants (€32.4 million) as well as Licences, Taxes and Fines (€2.6 million). Conversely, added revenue was registered in Income Tax (€8.2 million) together with Customs and Excise Duties (€5.2 million).

Compared to January last year, higher spending was registered in recurrent and capital expenditures, resulting in an increase in total expenditure of €10.4 million.

Recurrent expenditure went up by €9.2 million, totalling €231.6 million. Higher outlays were mainly registered in Contribution to Government Entities (€4.6 million), Personal Emoluments (€4.0 million) as well as Operational and Maintenance Expenditure (€2.3 million). Conversely, Programmes and Initiatives went down by €1.7 million, mainly due to lower social security benefits (€23.2 million). These were partially outweighed by added expenditure on medicines and surgical materials (€11.9 million) and the feed-in tariff (€5.0 million), among others.

The interest component of the public debt servicing costs for the period under review declined to €17.8 million from €18.3 million last year.

In addition, Government’s Capital Expenditure for January stood at €37.7 million compared to €36.0 million last year. Major increases were registered in the integrated health information system (€1.8 million) and in PC leasing (€1.2 million). These additions were partially offset by a lower equity injection to the national air carrier in January this year.

The euro coins issued in the name of the Maltese Treasury went up by €4.7 million when compared to the coin stock as at the end of January 2013, and totalled €54.9 million.

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