In January-October 2016, Government’s Consolidated Fund registered a deficit of €104.9 million, the National Statistics Office said today.

Compared to the same period last year, recurrent revenue registered an increase of €141.1 million whereas total expenditure went up by €41.4 million. This resulted in a positive change in the Government’s Consolidated Fund by €99.7 million.

In January-October, recurrent revenue was recorded at €2,907.2 million, up from €2,766.1 million last year. The comparative increase of 5.1 per cent was primarily the result of higher Income Tax and Social Security which increased by €110.8 million and €52.0 million respectively.

Moreover, increases were also recorded for Licences, Taxes and Fines (€27.9 million), Fees of Office (€15.0 million), Value Added Tax (€13.9 million), and Customs and Excise Duties (€13.6 million) among others. Conversely, major decreases were recorded in proceeds from Grants (€93.4 million).

Compared to January-October last year, total expenditure stood at €3,012.0 million up from €2,970.6 million, mainly as result of added outlays on recurrent expenditure which outweighed the decreases in capital expenditure and interest payments.

Recurrent expenditure stood at €2,594.5 million from €2,434.1 million last year. The major contributor to this increase was Programmes and Initiatives with a rise of €66.8 million.

The main developments in this category involved higher social security benefits (€33.9 million), a rise in the social security state contribution (of €18.1 million which also features as revenue), added outlays due to church schools (€13.4 million), EU Presidency 2017 (€11.8 million), Treasury pensions (€4.7 million) and CHOGM (€2.5 million).

On the other hand, lower EU Own Resources were recorded (€19.3 million). Increases were also registered in Contributions to Government Entities (€37.2 million), Personal Emoluments (€32.7 million) and Operational and Maintenance Expenses (€23.8 million).

The interest component of the public debt servicing costs stood at €187.0 million, down from €195.8 million last year.

Government’s capital expenditure witnessed a decline of €110.2 million, and was recorded at €230.5 million. This was mainly the result of lower spending on EU funded projects.

At the end of October 2016, Central Government Debt stood at €5,679.9 million, up by €286.7 million over the corresponding period last year. This was the result of higher Malta Government Stocks and Treasury Bills, which added €272.6 million and €74.2 million respectively. On the other hand, Domestic Loans with Commercial Banks and Foreign Loans went down by €56.4 million and €10.5 million respectively.

Lower holdings by government funds in Malta Government Stocks resulted in an increase in debt of €2.0 million.

The Euro coins issued in the name of the Treasury went up by €4.8 million when compared to the coin stock as at the end of October 2015, and totalled €71.5 million.

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