The deficit in the second quarter this year €94.2 million, the National Statistics Office said.
The NSO said that the deficit recorded by the government for the second quarter amounted to €94.2 million, compared to a deficit of €68.1 million for the corresponding period last year.
During the period under review, total revenue registered an improvement of €4.8 million to €562.2 million. This increase was mainly brought about by higher returns from ‘current taxes on income, wealth, etc’ and ‘property income receivable’ by €30.9 million and €3.1 million, respectively. These were in part offset by declines in ‘taxes on production and imports’, ‘social contributions receivable’ and ‘market output’.
Concurrently, total expenditure during the second quarter of 2009 amounted to €656.4 million, a comparative increase of €30.9 million resulting in part from higher ‘capital transfers payable’ and ‘social benefits and social transfers in kind’ which went up by €17.9 million and €17.8 million respectively.
Other increases were recorded in ‘intermediate consumption’, ‘compensation of employees’ and ‘gross capital formation’ whereas ‘subsidies payable’ registered a decline of €19.7 million.
During the June quarter, an improvement of €121.2 million was registered in “currency and deposits” in assets, whilst in liabilities an increase of €2.2 million was recorded when compared to the previous quarter. “Short-term securities” and “long-term securities” in liabilities went up by €101.8 million and €93 million respectively.
Conversely, short-term loans and long-term loans in liabilities exhibited declines of €5 million and €8.7 million respectively. When compared to the first quarter of 2009, other accounts receivable increased by €9.7 million, whilst other accounts payable rose by €54.9 million.
Total general government debt outstanding at the end of June increased by €314.2 million over the comparable period in 2008, and amounted to €3,873.1 million. This increase was underpinned by higher short-term securities (Treasury Bills), which added €224.5 million and long-term securities (Malta Government Stocks) which increased by €132.8 million. On the other hand, loans decreased by €51.3 million.
The euro coins issued in the name of the treasury, considered as a currency liability pertaining to the central government, amounted to €34.9 million, a rise of €8.2 million over the euro coin stock recorded at end of June last year.