The shortfall between the government's recurrent revenue and total expenditure of in the first half of the year amounted to €241.2 million, down from €284.3 million in the same period last year.
The National Statistics Office said increase of €104 million in recurrent revenue outweighed the added expenditure of €60.9 million, resulting in a reduction of €43.2 million in the government deficit.
Between January and June, recurrent revenue stood at €1,307.5 million, up by 8.6 per cent over last year.
This was mainly due to higher proceeds from income tax (+€60.8 million), grants
(+€59.1 million), social security (+€14.2 million) and value added tax (+€8.5 million).
Compared to 2012, total expenditure amounted to €1,548.7 million, up by 4.1 per cent, as a result of more outlays on all expenditure components.
Recurrent expenditure increased by €36.6 million, mainly as a result of higher outlays on personal emoluments (€17.2 million) and contributions to government entities (€9.5 million).
Expenditure on government’s capital projects amounted to €178.8 million. The increase of €22.4 million over the corresponding period last year includes an equity injection of €40 million to the national air carrier, up from €20 million last year.
Moreover, expenditure on road construction went up by €3.2 million.
Conversely, a decline of €1.8 million was registered in the ICT core services agreement.
The interest component of the public debt servicing costs registered an increase of €1.9 million and was recorded at €111.2 million.
At the end of June, government debt stood at €5,045.3 million, up by €250.4 million over the corresponding period last year.
This was the result of higher long-term and short-term borrowing, which added €79.8 million and €173.2 million respectively.
On the other hand, foreign borrowing went down by €12 million. As
a result of consolidation, lower holdings by government funds in MGSs brought about an increase in debt of €4 million.
The euro coins issued in the name of the Maltese Treasury went up by €5.2 million when compared to the coin stock as at the end of June 2012, and
totalled €52.3 million.