The deficit of the government’s consolidated fund in January/February amounted €74.5 million, the National Statistics Office said.
It said recurrent revenue increased by €45.8 million while expenditure went up by €16.4 million, when compared to the same period last year, narrowing the shortfall between recurrent revenue and total expenditure by €29.4 million.
During these two months, recurrent revenue was recorded at €482.8 million, up by 10.5 per cent over last year.
The main contributors to this increase were income tax (€35.4 million), value added tax (€29.9 million), social security (€6.1 million) and customs and excise duties (€4.8 million).
Grants registered a decline of €28.4 million.
Compared to January-February last year, higher spending was registered in recurrent expenditure, which was only partially offset by lower outlays on capital projects, resulting in an increase in total expenditure of €16.4 million.
Recurrent expenditure increased by €27.2 million, mainly as a result of higher spending on contributions to government entities (€9.9 million), operational and maintenance expenditure (€7.4 million), programmes and initiatives (€5.3 million) and personal emoluments (€4.7 million).
The major increases registered in the programmes and initiatives category were recorded in medicines and surgical materials (€8.5 million), the assistance to help the elderly live independently (€7.6 million), feed-in tariff (€5 million) and eco-reduction (€3.4 million), among others.
These increases were partially offset by a decline in social security benefits of €27 million.
The interest component of the public debt servicing costs for the period under review edged up to €36.4 million, from €36.2 million last year.
Expenditure on Government’s capital projects amounted to €61.7 million. The drop of €11.1 million over the corresponding period last year was mainly the result of a lower equity injection to the national air carrier.
Central government debt at the end of February stood at €5,095 million, up by €313.1 million over the corresponding period last year. This was the result of higher long-term and short-term borrowing, which added €266.5 million and €69.5 million, respectively.
On the other hand, foreign borrowing went down by €11 million.
As a result of consolidation, higher holdings by government funds in MGSs brought about a decline in debt of €16.6 million.