A surplus of €84m recorded for the first eight months

The Ministry for Finance has welcomed the latest public finance data published by the NSO, which shows that for the period of January to August of this year, government recorded a fiscal surplus of €84m as a result of buoyant revenue and contained expenditure.

During the first eight months, public investment increased by 47.1% over the same period last year, reflecting government’s commitment to boost capital expenditure particularly to upgrade Malta’s infrastructure.

In total, interest on government debt decreased by €13m or 9.1%.

During January to August of this year, recurrent revenue increased by €446m, of which €329m were increases in tax revenue. Indeed, all categories of tax revenue recorded increases with the highest contributor being revenue from income taxes followed by revenue from VAT and social security. The remarkable growth in tax revenue reflected the growth in Malta’s GDP for the first half of 2019, which was more than three times the EU average.

On the expenditure front, the increase in recurrent expenditure was contained to around 60% the increase in revenue and amounted to €271m. Expenditure on programmes and initiatives was the highest contributor to this increase. This category of expenditure reflects mainly the implementation of the 2019 budget measures as well as the extension of previous budgets’ successful measures, including the free childcare centres, free school transport, free medicine and treatment for chronic illnesses especially cancer treatment, increases in social security benefits for the vulnerable, elderly care as well as added outlays towards EU’s own resources.

Minister Scicluna said: “This positive result for the first eight months of the year shows that we are on track in recording a fiscal surplus for the fourth consecutive year. Nevertheless, we will remain vigilant and continue to monitor developments.”