The government surplus reached €57.4 million in the third quarter of last year half of what it was in the same period the year before. 

The National Statistics Office said that during the period July to September 2019, total revenue stood at €1,215.7 million, a decrease of €3.6 million when compared to the corresponding quarter in 2018.

Decreases in revenue were registered in current taxes on income and wealth (€29.0 million), taxes on production and imports (€18.7 million) and Current transfers receivable (€2.1 million).

This was partially outweighed by increases in net social contributions receivable (€26.0 million), Market output (€11.4 million), Property income receivable (€4.9 million) and Capital transfers receivable (€3.8 million).

Total expenditure in the third quarter of 2019 amounted to €1,158.3 million, an increase of €51.8 million over the previous quarter in 2018. Increases were recorded in almost all components of general government expenditure, mainly in Intermediate consumption (€32.6 million) and current transfers payable (€21.8 million).

In addition, other increases were registered in compensation of employees
(€17.9 million), Subsidies payable (€12.5 million), Social benefits and social transfers in kind (€4.2 million) and current taxes on income and wealth (€0.1 million). On the contrary, when compared to the corresponding quarter in 2018, Capital transfers payable and Gross capital formation both registered a decrease of €21.8 million and €12.0 million respectively, while Property income payable decreased by €3.4 million.

The NSO explained that in order to achieve compliance with the provisions of ESA 2010, adjustments to the Consolidated Fund data were made. In the third quarter of 2019, these adjustments brought about a decrease of €136.6 million to the surplus of the Consolidated Fund. A similar adjustment was also made for the 2018 figures.