Surplus of €154 million registered in Q3 2017

In the third quarter of 2017, the General Government recorded a surplus of €154.4 million, the National Statistics Office said yesterday.

During the period July-September 2017, total revenue stood at €1,159.2 million, an increase of €189.2 million when compared to the third quarter of 2016. This increase in revenue was triggered mainly by higher Current taxes on income and wealth (€91.3 million).

Increases were also registered in Taxes on Production and Imports (€68.7 million), Net Social Contributions receivable (€20.3 million), Market Output (€11.0 million) and Current transfers receivable (€3.8 million). Decreases were recorded in Capital transfers receivable (€4.7 million) and Property income receivable (€1.2 million).

Expenditure

Total expenditure in the third quarter of 2017 amounted to €1,004.8 million, an increase of €57.8 million from the third quarter of 2016. Increases were recorded mainly in Intermediate Consumption (€45.3 million), Compensation of Employees (€22.1 million) and Social Benefits and Social Transfers in Kind (€20.9 million).

Decreases were mainly recorded in Capital transfers Payable (€13.5 million), Subsidies Payable (€7.5 million), Current Transfers Payable (€4.1 million), Gross Capital Formation (€3.1 million) and Property income payable (€2.2million).

Financial transactions

During the third quarter of 2017, in relation to financial transactions in assets, Currency and deposits registered an increase of €145.8 million over the previous quarter. Conversely, Other accounts receivable decreased by €50.6 million whereas Equity and investment fund shares increased by €1.1 million.

With regard to financial transactions in liabilities, the major decrease was recorded in Other accounts payable, €64.1 million. Concurrently, Short-term debt securities and Long-term debt securities witnessed negative transactions of €56.9 million and €28.1 million respectively. Moreover, Shortterm loans went down by €12.1 million. Currency and deposits increased by €72.3 million.

Debt

Total General Government debt outstanding at the end of September 2017 increased by €41.7 million over the third quarter of 2016. General Government debt amounted to €5,831.6 million, of which €5,827.9 million related to Central Government. The increase in Central Government debt was underpinned by a rise in Longterm debt securities of €111.5 million. Conversely, Short-term debt securities decreased by €140.4 million. Additionally, Long-term loans decreased by €3.5 million while Short-term loans decreased by €2.2 million.

Currency and deposits stood at €147.1 million, a rise of €76.2 million over September 2016, and includes the euro coins issued in the name of the Treasury considered as liability for Central Government and the new 62+ Malta Government Savings Bond which amounted to €69.9 million.

The Government guaranteed debt amounted to €1,417.7 million at the end of September 2017, a decrease of €9.0 million when compared to September 2016.