Recurrent revenue up, expenditure down

Recurrent revenue till the end of May amounted to Lm322.7 million and made up 33.9 per cent of this year's budget forecast.

Compared to the first five months of last year, this revenue represented an increase of Lm18.4 million, or six per cent, the National Statistics Office said yesterday. The recurrent revenue for the same period in 2005 amounted to Lm304.3 million.

Total expenditure, excluding sinking funds contributions and direct loan repayments, amounted to Lm386.1 million, a decrease of Lm11.3 million, or 2.8 per cent, a year ago.

The total expenditure for the January to May period amounted to 38.4 per cent of the approved 2006 estimate. The total expenditure for the same period last year made up 40.9 per cent of the actual total expenditure for the year.

The shortfall between recurrent revenue and total expenditure this year amounted to Lm63.4 million this year, compared to a shortfall of Lm93.1 million a year ago.

In the first five months of 2006, there were no proceeds from sinking funds on converted loans, whilst in the same period last year, proceeds from this source amounted to Lm3.8 million.

Loan repayments between January and May amounted to Lm0.06 million; there were no such repayments last year. Contributions to the sinking funds amounted to Lm6.4 million and Lm6 million respectively for the 2006 and 2005 comparative periods.

During the first five months of this year local loans amounting to Lm25 million were taken up, while during the same period last year Lm76.5 million in loans were taken up. There was no resort to foreign borrowing in either of the comparative periods. Proceeds from disposal of shares owned by the government this year amounted to Lm74.2 million.

The increase of Lm18.4 million in recurrent revenue in the first five months of this year, when compared to the same period one year earlier, was reported mainly under income tax (+Lm8.2 million), social security contributions (+Lm4.0 million), Customs and excise (+Lm3.4 million), licences, taxes and fines (+Lm4.9 million), VAT (+Lm5.1 million), and dividends on investment (+Lm1.6 million). A relative decline in revenue was recorded under the Central Bank (-Lm4 million), grants (-Lm2.9 million), and miscellaneous receipts (-Lm2.8 million).

Recurrent expenditure (excluding public debt servicing) in the first five months last year amounted to Lm313.5 million, an increase of Lm1.7 million, or 0.5 per cent on the Lm311.8 million expended during the same period last year. Recurrent expenditure makes up 40.1 per cent of the budgetary estimates for 2006, while last year's figure corresponds to 40.7 per cent of the actual final outturn for that year.