The government’s consolidated fund reported a deficit of €98.4 million by the end of February.
The National Statistics Office said that between January and February, recurrent revenue rose by €23.1 million and amounted to €712.2 million.
This reflected a 3.3% increase from the €689.2 million reported in revenue by the end of February 2019. The rise was primarily the result of a €7.6 million increase recorded under miscellaneous receipts, followed by a €7 million rise in licences, taxes and fines.
Total expenditure by the end of February amounted to €810.6 million, a 7.8% increase from the same period in 2019.
Recurrent expenditure stood at €713.5 million, representing a €62.6 million increase from the €650.9 million total recorded by the end of February 2019.
The main contributor to this increase was a €34.7 million rise reported under contributions to government entities.
The interest component of the public debt servicing costs totalled €30.5 million, €6.1 million lower than in the same period in 2019.
Government’s capital spending amounted to €66.5 million by the end of February, an increase of €2 million from 2019. The rise was essentially due to additional spending towards property, plant and equipment (€6.3 million), investment incentives (€3 million), EU agricultural fund for rural development
2014 - 2020 (€2.9 million), distribution centre at Ricasoli (Smart City) (€2.5 million) and structural funds 2014 - 2020 (€1.4 million).
On the other hand, there was a drop of €14.5 million reported under EU internal security fund - borders and visa.
The difference between total revenue and expenditure resulted in a deficit of €98.4 million being reported in the government’s consolidated fund by the end of February 2020, a €35.5 million rise from the deficit of €62.9 million witnessed during the same period in 2019.
The main driver of the difference was a higher reported increase in total expenditure, consisting of recurrent expenditure (€62.6 million), interest (-€6.1 million) and capital expenditure (€2 million), in comparison to the rise in recurrent revenue (€23.1 million).
By the end of February, central government debt stood at €5,543.7 million, a €103.3 million rise from February 2019.
This was primarily the result of a €97.2 million increase exhibited under the 62+ Malta Government Savings Bond, in addition to rises reported under Malta Government Stocks (€16.7 million), euro coins issued in the name of the Treasury (€5 million) and treasury bills (€3.7 million).
Conversely, foreign loans fell by €0.1 million. Higher holdings by government funds in Malta Government Stocks also resulted in a decrease in debt of €19.2 million.