Increase in total expenditure, recurrent revenue

The shortfall between recurrent revenue and total expenditure in the first two months of the year increased by €43.4 million, amounting to €143 million when compared to the same period last year, the National Statistics Office said yesterday.

An increase of €86.8 million in total expenditure (excluding equity acquisition) was partly offset by an increase of €43.4 million in recurrent revenue.

In January and February, the Consolidated Fund recorded an increase of €13.6 million in revenues from income tax while revenues from fees of office and from the Central Bank rose by €5.6 million and €5.4 million respectively. Dividends on investment also yielded €9 million in the period under review and no such proceeds were recorded in the corresponding period last year.

Recurrent expenditure amounted to €352 million, an increase of €53.5 million compared to January and February last year. The major increases in recurrent expenditure were recorded under the social security benefits, which added €18.1 million, and under the Ministry for Rural Affairs and the Environment (+€11.5 million).

The interest component of the public debt servicing costs for January and February 2008 increased by €3.9 million and amounted to €31.8 million.

The government's outlay on its capital programme (excluding equity acquisition) for the first two months of this year amounted to €53.4 million, an increase of €29.5 million when compared to the expenditure of €23.9 million for the same period last year.

During the period under review, capital expenditure under the Ministry for Investment, Industry and Information Technology and under the Ministry for Tourism and Culture increased by €9.5 million and €7.7 million respectively.

During the course of the first two months, the government invested €6.5 million in equity in Malta Stock Exchange plc.

No new loans were taken up during this period.

The central government's debt outstanding at the end of February amounted to €3,285.5 million, an increase of €108.1 million compared to the gross central government debt outstanding at the end of February 2007.

While long-term borrowing increased by €136.4 million, short-term borrowing and foreign borrowing declined by €44.2 million and €6.5 million respectively. At the end of February, the stock of euro coins added to the gross government debt amounted to €22.4 million.