The government’s deficit between January and September 2014 was €283.9 million.
Recurrent revenue registered an increase of €171.1 million, offset by higher expenditure of €183.6 million, when compared to the corresponding period last year, thereby widening the shortfall between recurrent revenue and total expenditure by €12.5 million.
During the first nine months, recurrent revenue was recorded at €2,227.3 million, up by 8.3 per cent over last year.
The main contributors to this increase were value added tax (€50 million), income tax (€45.7 million), grants (€41.8 million) and social security contributions (€37.6 million).
Conversely, customs and excise duties registered a decline of €30 million.
Recurrent expenditure increased by €154.5 million, mainly as a result of higher spending on programmes and initiatives (€82.3 million).
The major increases registered in the programmes and initiatives category were recorded in the public service obligations (€18.1 million), social security benefits (€14.9 million), social security state contributions, which also feature as revenue (€11 million), medicines and surgical materials (€8.3 million), allocations in respect to local councils (€8.2 million) and the ex-gratia grant scheme for motor vehicles (€3.2 million), among others.
In addition, personal emoluments and contributions to government entities increased by €36.8 million and €31.2 million, respectively. Operational and Maintenance Expenditure went up by €4.3 million (Table 4).
The interest component of the public debt servicing costs for the period under review amounted to €172 million, an increase of €6.5 million over last year.
Expenditure on government’s capital projects amounted to €279.2 million. The increase of €22.5 million was mainly brought about by added outlays on roads (€21.1 million), the procurement of a helicopter (€11.9 million) and higher outlays towards the ICT core services agreement (€2.8 million), among others.
Conversely, a lower equity injection to the national air carrier was registered.
At the end of September, Central Government debt stood at €5,347.4 million, up by €192 million over the corresponding period last year. This was the result of higher long-term borrowing, which added €271.3 million.
On the other hand, short-term and foreign borrowing went down by €114.1 million and €10.6 million, respectively.
As a result of consolidation, lower holdings by government funds in MGSs brought about an increase in debt of €40.1 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 September 2013, and totalled €59.5 million.