Expenditure on social security benefits went up by €15.1 million in the first half of this year, mostly because of increases in the outlay on retirement pensions, the National Statistics Office said.

The NSO said expenditure on Social Security Benefits totalled €405.5 million in the first half of 2013, a 3.9 per cent increase over the same period last year.

Higher outlays on both contributory benefits (+€8.9 million) and non-contributory benefits (+€6.2 million) accounted for the rise in expenditure.

Non-Contributory Benefits’ increased by 6.8 per cent when compared to the same period last year.

Social security benefits’ expenditure amounted to €194.7 million in the second quarter this year, a 6.1 per cent rise over last year.

This was due to a rise of €5.8 million in contributory benefits and €5.4 million in non-contributory benefits.

The rise in contributory benefits was brought about by a €4.3 million increase in retirement pensions and a €3.4 million rise in children’s allowance mainly led to the increase in non-contributory benefits.

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