The government’s consolidated fund registered a deficit of €141 million in the first eight months of the year.

The National Statistics Office said recurrent revenue between January and August recorded an increase of €235.6 million when compared to the same period last year.

This outweighed the rise in expenditure of €166.7 million, resulting in a positive change in the government’s consolidated fund of €68.9 million.

In the first eight months of this year, recurrent revenue was recorded at €2,222.4 million, up from €1,986.8 million last year.

Total expenditure increased by €166.7 million due to higher recurrent and capital expenditures.

Recurrent expenditure went up by €148.5 million, totalling €1,939.3 million. The interest component of the public debt servicing costs stood at €152.7 million, up by €1 million from last year.

Government’s capital expenditure was recorded at €271.4 million, up by €17.3 million from last year.

At the end of August, central government debt stood at €5,396.5 million, an increase of €5.9 million over the same period last year.