NSO confirms steep rise in government deficit

The government deficit at the end of the fourth quarter of last year had climbed to €45.4 million compared to just €7.5 million in the fourth quarter of 2007, NSO figures issued today show.

Revenue during the quarter dropped by €32.6 million to €624.2 million mainly as a result of a drop in revenue from income taxes.

Total expenditure during the quarter reached €669.6 million, an increase of €5.3 million brought about by an increase ins pending on social services.

In a separate statement, the NSO said the government deficit at the end of last year reached €266.5 million, up from a deficit of €119.5m at the end of the previous year. That raised the deficit to 4.7 percent of GDP compared to 2.2percent of GDP in 2007.

At the end of 2008, the gross consolidated debt reached €3,629.9 million, or 64.1 percent of GDP.

MALTA DEFICIT FIFTH HIGHEST IN EU

Meanwhile, eurostat, the EU statistical agency, said Malta had the fifth largest budget deficit relative to GDP in the EU last year.

The largest governemnt deficit was recorded by Ireland (-7.1%) followed by the UK, Romania, Greece, and then Malta at -4.7 percent.

At the end of last year, the lowest ratio of government debt to GDP was recorded in Estonia at 4.8 percent. Malta's was 65.9 percent.