Deficit grows by €74.6m in seven months

The government's financial deficit widened by €74.6 million to €283.5 million in the first seven months of the year, the NSO revealed today.

"An increase of €131.1 million in total expenditure was only partly offset by an increase of €56.5 million in recurrent revenue," the NSO said.

During the first seven months this year, the Consolidated Fund recorded an increase of €26.7 million from income tax and of €24.4 million from VAT. Social Security Contributions also added €15.1 million. Revenue from licences, taxes and fines declined by €7.3 million while revenue classified under Miscellaneous Receipts declined by €10.0 million.

Recurrent expenditure amounted to €1,204.2 million, an increase of €129.1 million compared to the first seven months last year. Major increases in recurrent expenditure were recorded under Social Security Benefits, which added €35.1 million, while the Ministry of Health, the Elderly and Community Care and the Ministry for Investment, Industry and Information Technology added €29.9 million and €12.3 million respectively.

During the period under review the interest component of the public debt servicing costs amounted to €108.0 million, a comparative increase of €4.7 million over 2007.

Government’s outlay on its Capital Programme for the first seven months declined by €2.8 million and amounted to €132.4 million.

Loans taken up by Government for the first seven months of the year amounted to €106.0 million.

The Central Government debt outstanding at the end of July amounted to €3,486.9 million, an increase of €159.6 million compared to the gross Central Government debt outstanding at the end of July last year. While long-term borrowing increased by €149.3 million, short-term borrowing and foreign borrowing declined by €11.2 million and €6.3 million respectively.