Government Consolidated Fund registers €900.3m deficit for 2022
By the end of December 2022, the Government’s Consolidated Fund reported a deficit of €900.3m, statistics published by the National Statistics Office on Thursday show.
Between January and December 2022, Recurrent Revenue amounted to €5,845.2m, 8% higher than the €5,413.2m reported a year earlier. The largest increase was recorded under Value Added Tax (€261.2m), followed by Social Security (€106m), Income Tax (€49.1m), Grants (€25m), Licences, Taxes and Fines (€14.9m), Fees of Office (€10.9m), Reimbursements (€5.7m) and Interests on loans made by Government (€0.2m). The rise in revenue was partially offset by decreases under Customs and Excise Duties (€15.7m), Miscellaneous Receipts (€13.7m), Central Bank of Malta (€10.9m), Dividends on Investment (€0.4m) and Rents (€0.4m).
By the end of December 2022, total expenditure stood at €6,745.5m, €99.8m higher than the previous year.
During the reference year, Recurrent Expenditure totalled €5,832.5m, an increase of €117.8m compared to the €5,714.7m reported in 2021. The main contributor to this increase was a €107.8m rise reported under Contributions to Government Entities. Higher contributions were, among others, made towards Resource Support and Services Ltd (€66.2m), Running expenses of the parliamentary services (€10.6m), Malta Tourism Authority (€7.6m) and University of Malta (€4.2m). Furthermore, an increase was also witnessed under Personal Emoluments (€34.5m). This rise in expenditure outweighed lower outlay reported under Operational and Maintenance Expenses (€18.1m) and
Programmes and Initiatives (€6.3m). The main development in the Programmes and Initiatives category was a €260.3m decrease exhibited under the Pandemic assistance schemes. On the other hand, additional outlays went towards Social security benefits (€81.1m), Energy support measures (€53.4m), Economic stimulus payments (€51.3m), Covid 19 supplies (€40.4m) and Carbon credits (€40m).
The interest component of the public debt servicing costs totalled €173.6m, a decrease of €10.7m when compared to the previous year.
By the end of December 2022, Government’s capital spending amounted to €739.3m, €7.4m lower than 2021. This decrease resulted from lower expenditure towards Road construction and improvements (€37.2m), Property, plant and equipment (€10.8m), Gozo Aquatic Centre (€8m) and Wasteserv Malta Ltd (€6.2m). The drop in capital outlay was partially offset by a €54m increase witnessed under National airline restructuring assistance.
The difference between total revenue and expenditure resulted in a deficit of €900.3m being reported in the Government’s Consolidated Fund at the end of December 2022. Compared to the same period in 2021, there was a decrease in deficit of €332.2m. This difference mirrors an increase in total Recurrent Revenue (€432m), partly offset by a rise in total expenditure, which consists of Recurrent Expenditure (€117.8m), Interest (-€10.7m) and Capital Expenditure (-€7.4m).
At the end of December 2022, Central Government debt stood at €8,829.9m, an increase of €732.5m from 2021. The increase reported under Malta Government Stocks (€669.4m) was the main contributor to the rise in debt. Higher debt was also reported under Treasury Bills (€247.3m) and Euro coins issued in the name of the Treasury (€5.3m). This increase in debt was partially offset by a decrease in the 62+ Malta Government Savings Bond (€99.8m), higher holdings by government funds in Malta Government Stocks (€89.6m) and less Foreign Loans (€0.1m).