Government shortfall down by Lm22m

The shortfall in government recurrent revenue to total expenditure in the first eight months of this year dropped by Lm22 million over the same period last year, the National Statistics Office said.

The shortfall in the period under review amounted to Lm69.2 million.

The NSO said the decrease was mainly attributable to higher revenues and lower capital expenditure.

In the first eight months of 2006, recurrent revenue totalled Lm551.1 million, an increase of Lm20.6 million when compared to the same period last year.

This increase was due to higher receipts from income tax, social security contributions, licences, excise duties and consumption tax.

These were contrasted by decreases in revenues from miscellaneous receipts, fees of office and the Central Bank of Malta.

The NSO said that recurrent expenditure in the period under review amounted to Lm497.8 million, an increase of Lm13 million compared to last year. This reflected a Lm9.4 million rise in outlays on social security benefits and marginal increases in personal emoluments and operational and maintenance expenditure.