By the end of August 2022, the Government’s Consolidated Fund reported a deficit of €359.0 million, the NSO said, while debt levels continued to increase – now reaching €8.56 billion, an increase of €874.5 million from 2021.
In the first eight months of 2022, Recurrent Revenue amounted to €3,623.9 million, 12.0 per cent higher than the €3,235.0 million reported a year earlier. The largest increase was recorded under Value Added Tax (€177.7 million), followed by Income Tax (€126.9 million) and Social Security (€80.9 million),
Recurrent Expenditure totalled €3,517.7 million, an increase of €39.7 million in comparison to the €3,477.9 million reported in the first eight months of 2021. The main contributor to this increase was a €38.4 million increase reported under Programmes and Initiatives. Furthermore, increases were also witnessed under Personal Emoluments (€15.2 million) and Contributions to Government Entities (€3.6 million).
Particularly, government expenditure was driven up by additional outlays towards Energy support measures (€62.2 million), Economic stimulus payments (€48.0 million), Social security benefits (€35.9 million), Tax relief measures (€26.0 million), Gas stabilisation fund (€10.0 million) and the extension of school transport network (€6.3 million). This rise in Programmes and Initiatives was partly offset by a decrease under the Pandemic assistance schemes (€149.9 million).
By the end of August 2022, Government’s capital spending amounted to €352.8 million, €30.3 million lower than 2021. This decrease resulted from lower expenditure towards Road construction and improvements (€12.5 million).
The difference between total revenue and expenditure resulted in a deficit of €359.0 million being reported in the Government’s Consolidated Fund at the end of August 2022. Compared to the same period in 2021, there was a decrease in deficit of €390.1 million.
