In January-February 2015, Government’s Consolidated Fund registered a surplus of €49.7 million, the National Statistics Office said today.

During the first two months of the year, recurrent revenue registered an increase of €127.2 million which outweighed the increase in expenditure of €3.0 million, thereby resulting in a positive change in the Government’s Consolidated Fund of €124.2 million.

In January-February, recurrent revenue was recorded at €610.0 million, up from €482.8 million last year. The major contributors to the comparative increase of 26.3 per cent were higher proceeds from Grants by €103.1 million. Moreover, increases were registered in Income Tax (€9.4 million), Licences, Taxes and Fines (€5.5 million) and Value Added Tax (€5.0 million). On the other hand, Fees of Office registered a fall of €1.3 million.

Compared to January-February last year, higher spending was registered with regard to recurrent and capital expenditure whereas interest payments declined marginally, resulting in an increase in total expenditure of €3.0 million.

Recurrent expenditure went up by €1.8 million, totalling €461.0 million. The largest increases were recorded in Personal Emoluments (€7.0 million) and Operational and Maintenance Expenses (€2.7 million). Conversely, lower outlays were registered in Programmes and Initiatives by €8.0 million.

The declines in the Programmes and Initiatives category were recorded in social security benefits (€9.8 million), feed-in tariff (€5.0 million), medicines and surgical materials (€4.0 million) and eco reduction (€3.4 million). These were partially offset by increased outlays on the contribution towards Church schools (€9.6 million), public service obligations (€2.5 million) and childcare for all (€2.5 million).

The interest component of the public debt servicing costs for the first two months of 2015 declined marginally to €35.9 million from €36.4 million last year.

In addition, Government’s Capital Expenditure stood at €63.4 million from €61.7 million last year. This was mainly due to a lower equity injection to the national air carrier which was partially outweighed by added outlays on enterprise investment incentives (€4.1 million), EU funded expenditure on agriculture (€3.4 million) and acquisition of property for public purposes (€3.1 million).

At the end of February 2014, Central Government Debt stood at €5,199.3 million, up by €104.3 million, over the corresponding period last year. This was the result of higher Malta Government Stocks, which added €288.7 million.

On the other hand, Treasury Bills and Foreign Loans went down by €153.2 million and €10.5 million respectively. As a result of consolidation, higher holdings by government funds in Malta Government Stocks resulted in a reduction in debt of €25.9 million.

The Euro coins issued in the name of the Treasury went up by €5.3 million when compared to the coin stock as at the end of February 2014, and totalled €60.1 million.

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