The government's financial deficit widened by €75.5 million in the first nine months of this year to reach €333.9 million, official figures released today show. The government over the period reduced its spending on energy support measures by €40.5m but spent €30m more on social benefits and €20m on the dockyard early retirement schemes.

Recurrent revenue declined by €32.1 million, while total expenditure increased by €43.4 million.The shortfall between recurrent revenue and total expenditure amounted to €333.9 million, from €258.3 million last year.

The NSO said recurrent revenue totalled €1,553.6 million. The decline of 2.0 per cent compared to the corresponding period in 2008 was the result of lower Customs and Excise duties (-€55.5 million) and Value Added Tax (-€22.9 million) which outweighed the higher returns from Income Tax (+€21.5 million) and Social Security (+€19.3 million).

On the other hand, when compared to January-September 2008, all the expenditure categories moved upwards, resulting in a rise of €43.4 million in total expenditure.

Recurrent expenditure increased by €35.8 million, totalling €1,559.9 million. The main contributors to the increase in programmes and initiatives were higher social security benefits (+€30.3 million), the shipyards' voluntary retirement schemes (+€19.8 million) and an increase in medicines and surgical materials (+€3.0 million) which were partly outweighed by a fall in the energy support measures (-€40.5 million).

Personal emoluments added €16.8 million.

Debt servicing costs for the period under review went up by €2.5 million and amounted to €158.6 million.

The Government's capital expenditure for the first nine months this year amounted to €169.0 million from €163.9 million last year, up by 3.1 per cent.

The Central Government debt outstanding at the end of September amounted to €3,877.3 million, an increase of €359.2 million compared to September last year. Short-term and long-term borrowing rose by €151.2 million and €214.9 million respectively, while foreign borrowing declined by €14.1 million.

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