In 2017, the government registered a surplus of €182.7 million, with revenue up by €484.2 million compared with a year earlier, while total expenditure only increased by €310.4 million.

This resulted in a positive change in the Government’s Consolidated Fund by €173.8 million, the National Statistics Office said on Thursday.

In 2017, recurrent revenue was recorded at €4,291.2 million, up from €3,807.0 million last year. The comparative increase of 12.7 per cent was primarily the result of higher Income Tax and Value Added Tax which both increased by €169.2 million and €96.4 million respectively.

  • Social Security +€70.7 million
  • Fees of Office +€41.2 million, comprising an increase of €34.1 million related to the Individual Investor Programme
  • Grants +€36.9 million
  • Customs and Excise Duties +€25.6 million
  • Licences, Taxes and Fines +€21.5 million
  • Reimbursements +€16.8 million
  • Miscellaneous Receipts +€2.3 million
  • Dividends on Investment +€2.2 million 
  • Rents +€1.4 million

Compared to 2016, total expenditure stood at €4,108.5 million up from €3,798.1 million due to added outlays on recurrent expenditure and capital expenditure which outweighed lower spending on interest payments.

Recurrent expenditure stood at €3,543.3 million from €3,264.3 million last year. The main contributors to this increase were Programmes and Initiatives and Personal Emoluments with a rise of €196.2 million and €45.9 million respectively. 

The Programmes and Initiatives category involved added outlays due to:

  • Social security benefits +€36.2 million
  • Higher EU Own Resources +€21.5 million
  • State contribution +€20.5 million (which also features as revenue)
  • Health Concession Agreements +€17.5 million
  • Jobsplus Programmes +€11.8 million
  • Treasury Pensions +€10.8 million
  • Contingency Reserve +€9.8 million
  • Medicines and Surgical materials +€8.8 million
  • EU Presidency 2017 +€7.0 million
  • Residential private care +€5.8 million
  • Child care for all +€4.2 million
  • Solid waste management +€3.6 million
  • Church schools +€3.0 million
  • Feed in tariff +€2.9 million
  • Public social partnership +€2.4 million
  • Allocation to local councils +€2.0 million
  • Street lighting +€1.6 million
  • Energy support measures +€1.0 million

Contributions to Government Entities and Operational and Maintenance Expenses increased by €23.8 million and €13 million respectively.

The interest component of the public debt servicing costs stood at €215.1 million, down from €223.5 million last year.

Government’s capital expenditure witnessed an increase of €39.9 million, and was recorded at €350.2 million.

  • Investment incentives +€11.2 million
  • Restoration of Triton fountain +€4.5 million
  • EU Cohesion Fund 2014-2020 +€4.2 million
  • EU Internal Security Borders and VISA +€4.0 million
  • Grand Harbour Regeneration Corporation +€3.8 million
  • Tomorrow schools +€3.4 million
  • Road construction improvements +€2.8 million
  • Integrated health information system +€1.6 million
  • Road construction improvements +€1.5 million

On the other hand lower outlays related to film industry incentives (€9.2 million) were recorded.

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