Be the first to comment!General Government Debt and Deficit under the Maastricht Treaty
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The General Government deficit for 2007 is estimated at €96.4 million, or 1.8 per cent of GDP. On the 30th of September 2008, Malta submitted its report on government deficit and debt levels for the years 2004-2008. This was done in accordance with Council Regulation (EC) No 3605/93, and subsequent amendments, as well as in accordance with the Code of Best Practice adopted by the Ecofin Council of the 18 February 2003. This is Malta’s second submission for 2008, and updates the first submission of the 27th of March, which was reported in the National Statistics Office News Release No. 67/2008 dated the 18th of April.
Debt and Deficit Positions
In 2007, General Government net borrowing (or deficit) was estimated at €96.4 million, down from a deficit of €116.6 million for 2006. In 2007, general government deficit was equivalent to 1.8 per cent of GDP, compared to 2.3 per cent of GDP for 2006.
At the end of 2007, the General Government nominal gross consolidated debt amounted to €3,370.4 million, or 62.2 per cent of GDP; compared to €3,253.4 million, or 63.9 per cent of GDP for 2006.
Updates
As from this submission, the National Statistics Office has changed the method of recording taxes and social contributions in Malta, in order to comply with Council Regulation 2516/2000. This revision had the following net effect on the annual deficit ( – denotes an increase in deficit; + denotes a reduction in deficit):
2004 -€6.3 million;
2005 +€3.8 million;
2006 +€10.7 million;
2007 +€14.6 million.
Following the availability of annual audited accounts, the deficit of the EBU sub-sector for 2007 has been revised upwards by €14.4 million. This revision by and large offset the positive impact of the change of recording of taxes and social contributions outlined in the previous paragraph. No statistically significant revisions to the aggregate General Government debt levels were recorded for the reference years.
EDP Consolidated Inventory
An EDP Consolidated Inventory of Sources and Methods, revised to take into account the updated method of recording of taxes and social contributions, has been uploaded on the NSO website. This document may be accessed at http://www.nso.gov.mt/docs/EDP-Inventory.pdf A list at the end of this release names the extra budgetary units (EBUs) which form part of the General Government sector.
