Deficit of €76 million registered in January

By the end of January 2020, the Government’s Consolidated Fund reported a deficit of €75.9 million, the National Statistics Office said yesterday.

In January, recurrent revenue increased by €3.3 million and amounted to €305.7 million. This reflected a 1.1% increase from the €302.4 million reported in revenue during the comparative period of 2019.

Increases were mainly recorded in Customs and Excise Duties (€10.9 million), Income Tax (€4.4 million), Grants (€2.2 million) and Fees of Office (€1.8 million).

Conversely, decreases were registered in Social Security (€9.8 million), VAT (€2.2 million), Licences, Taxes and Fines (€2.1 million), Reimbursements (€2.1 million) and Miscellaneous Receipts (€0.6 million).

Total expenditure by the end of January 2020 amounted to €381.6 million, a 6.8% increase from the same period in 2019. Recurrent expenditure stood at €338.4 million, €19.2 million higher than the comparable amount registered in January 2019.

The main contributor to this increase was a €14.8 million rise in Programmes and Initiatives.

On the other hand, reductions were observed in the social security state contribution (€11.3 million that also affects revenue) and provision to spare capacity – electricity (€3.5 million).

The interest component of the public debt servicing costs totalled €12.2 million, €0.7 million lower than the same period in 2019.

Government’s capital spending amounted to €31.0 million by the end of January, an increase of €5.7 million from 2019.

The difference between total revenue and expenditure resulted in a deficit of €75.9 million being reported in the Government’s Consolidated Fund by the end of January 2020, a €20.9 million rise from the deficit of €55.0 million witnessed during the same period in 2019.

The main driver of the difference was a higher reported increase in total expenditure, consisting of recurrent expenditure (€19.2 million), interest (-€0.7 million) and capital expenditure (€5.7 million), in comparison to the increase in recurrent revenue (€3.3 million).

By the end of January 2020, Central Government Debt stood at €5,392.7 million, a €21.9 million fall from the comparative month in 2019.

This was primarily the result of lower Malta Government Stocks (€83.3 million), while further drops were also reported in Treasury Bills (€22.0 million) and Foreign Loans (€0.1 million). On the other hand, there were increases recorded under 62+ Malta Government Savings Bond (€97.3 million) and Euro Coins issued in the name of the Treasury (€4.8 million).

Higher holdings by government funds in Malta Government Stocks also resulted in a decrease in debt of €18.6 million.