A deficit of €371.6million was reported by the government’s consolidated fund by the end of March, the National Statistics Office said.

In a statement on Friday, it said in the first quarter of 2022, recurrent revenue amounted to €1,148.4 million - 23.4 per cent higher than the €930.5million reported a year earlier.

The largest increase was recorded under social security (€67.3 million), followed by income tax (€66.5 million), VAT (€37.7 million), grants (€31.2 million), licences and taxes and fines (€12.4 million).

By the end of March, total expenditure stood at €1,520 million - 4.1 per cent higher than the previous year.

During this same time, recurrent expenditure totalled €1,358.5 million - an increase of €65.0 million in comparison to the €1,293.5 million reported by the end of March of last year.

The main contributor to this was an €83.4 million increase reported under programmes and initiatives.

Furthermore, an increase was also witnessed under contributions to government entities (€6.7 million).

This rise in expenditure outweighed decreases under operational and maintenance expenses (€19.6 million) and personal emoluments (€5.5 million).

The main developments in the programmes and initiatives category involved added outlays towards social security benefits, following two regular payments of retirement pensions made in March (€66.1 million), economic stimulus payments (€48.2 million), tax relief measures (€25.8 million) and assistance to help the elderly live independently (€12.4 million).

This rise in Programmes and Initiatives was partly offset by decreases under the pandemic assistance schemes (€48 million) and hospital concession agreements (€22.2 million).

The interest component of the public debt servicing costs totalled €36.7 million - a decrease of €7.7 million when compared to the previous year.

By the end of March 2022, the government’s capital spending amounted to €124.7 million - €2.3 million higher than2021.

This increase resulted from higher expenditure towards investment incentives (€3.5 million), ICT core services agreement (€3 million), Ta’ Qali National Park (€2.7 million) and the indoor pool at the Cottonera Sports Complex (€2.4 million).

This rise in capital expenditure was partially offset by decreases under road construction (€7.5 million) and national identity management systems (€1.6 million).

The difference between total revenue and expenditure resulted in a deficit of €371.6 million being reported in the government’s consolidated fund.

Compared to the same period in 2021, there was a decrease in deficit of €158.3 million.

Meanwhile, at the end of March, central government debt stood at €8,466.3 million - a €1,170.8 million rise from 2021.