The government's deficit between January and November amounted to €188.9 million.
The National Statistics Office said recurrent revenue registered an increase of €330.6 million, which offset the increase of €212.2 million in expenditure when compared to the corresponding period last year, narrowing the shortfall between revenue and expenditure by €118.4 million.
Recurrent revenue was recorded at €2,895.4 million, up by 12.9 per cent over last year. The main contributors to the increase were customs and excise duties which went up by €111.6 million, mainly following the receipt of excise arrears.
Other major increases were registered in income tax (€57.3 million), social security contributions (€50.7 million), value added tax (€42.1 million) and grants (€26.2 million).
Recurrent expenditure increased by €177.8 million, mainly as a result of higher spending on programmes and initiatives (€85.3 million).
The major increases registered in the programmes and initiatives category were recorded in the public service obligations (€20.6 million), social security state contribution, which also feature as revenue (€16.6 million), medicines and surgical materials (€12.5 million), social security benefi ts (€9.2 million), child care for all (€4.7 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 €48.1 million and €36.4 million respectively.
Operational and maintenance expenditure went up by €7.9 million.
The interest component of the public debt servicing costs for the period under review amounted to €210.6 million, an increase of €3.2 million over last year.
Expenditure on government’s capital projects amounted to €370.5 million. The increase of €31.2 million was mainly brought about by added outlays on EU funded capital projects primarily involving road works and the procurement of a helicopter.
Conversely, a lower equity injection to the national air carrier was registered.
At the end of November, central government debt stood at €5,261.7 million, up by €196.8 million over the corresponding period last year.
This was the result of higher long-term borrowing, which added €290.3 million.
Short-term and foreign borrowing went down by €87.4 million and €10.5 million respectively.