(Adds PN statement)
The deficit of the government’s Consolidated Fund amounted to €225.6 million in the first quarter, €58.1 million more than in the same period last year, according to the National Statistics Office.
The NSO said that recurrent revenue registered an increase of €41.3 million while expenditure went up by €99.4 million when compared to the corresponding period last year, widening the shortfall between recurrent revenue and total expenditure by €58.1 million.
During the period under review, recurrent revenue was recorded at €637.8 million, up by 6.9 per cent over last year. The main contributors to this increase were income tax (€34.7 million), value added tax (€24.3 million) and social security (€10.6 million).
Conversely, grants registered a decline of €31 million.
Compared to January-March last year, higher spending was registered in recurrent expenditure and interest payments, which was partially offset by lower outlays on capital projects.
Recurrent expenditure increased by €104.4 million, mainly as a result of higher spending on programmes and initiatives (€57.7 million) and contributions to government entities (€23.7 million).
The interest component of the public debt servicing costs for the period under review rose to €53.8 million from €51.4 million last year.
Expenditure on government’s capital projects amounted to €96.7 million. The reduction of €7.4 million over the corresponding period last year was mainly the result of a lower equity injection to the national air carrier (€24 million), which was partially outweighed by a higher contribution towards the treasury clearance fund (€14.7 million).
At the end of March, Central Government debt stood at €5,235.9 million, up by €291.2 million over the corresponding period last year. This was the result of higher long-term and short-term borrowing, which added €202.3 million and €78.6 million respectively.
On the other hand, foreign borrowing went down by €11 million. As a result of consolidation, lower holdings by government funds in MGSs brought about an increase in debt of €17.1 million.
FIGURES SHOW GOVERNMENT POSTPONED DEFICIT - PN
In a statement the Nationalist Party said the statistics showed that the government postponed last year's deficit to this year increasing it by €60 million in the first three months.
This showed that it was not true that the deficit was curbed last year but simply postponed important decisions. The fact that in the first three months the deficit was €60 million more than in the first three months of past year, an electoral campaign period, destroyed the Prime Minister's attempts to blame the Nationalist Party for its financial results.