Latest Government Finance Data issued today by the National Statistics Office (NSO) shows that Government’s finances for the first month of this year are in line with fiscal projections for 2016.

PRESS RELEASE ISSUED BY THE MINISTRY FOR FINANCE

In January of this year, recurrent expenditure remained unchanged when compared to last year mainly as a result of a €9.8 million reduction in expenditure on Contributions to Government Entities which was matched by an equivalent increase in other expenditure categories. Capital expenditure decreased by €7.0 million reflecting the tapering effect of the completion of the EU 2007-2013 programme. In total, expenditure declined by 6.1 million over January of 2015.

On the revenue side, the annual change in revenue figures for the month of January was highly influenced by the lower revenues registered under the Grants component. This reflected the closure of the European Union financing period 2007-2013 at the end of last year and the start of the 2014-2020 EU funding programme.

Indeed, recurrent revenue excluding grants increased year-on-year by €6.0 million with the main contributor being customs and excise duties which increased by €10.4 million over the corresponding period of 2015. Other notable increases were also recorded in revenue from income tax and social security contributions which increased by €4.5 million and €7.9 million respectively over January of last year. The persistent positive developments in revenue from direct taxes is reflecting the continuous increase in labour market participation rates in particular amongst women, coupled with a consistently record low unemployment rate. Revenue from Licenses, Taxes and Fines was also positive as this component of revenue increased by €2.0 million.

Data also shows that net revenue from VAT declined by €15.4 million compared to January 2015 however, this is a transient effect caused by the timing of payment of refunds and does not reflect on gross VAT revenues which have remained strong during the month.

– Friday, 26th February, 2016