A €47.3 million reduction in the consolidated fund deficit was recorded in the first half of this year when compared to the corresponding period of last year, according to the latest Government Finance Data issued today by the National Statistics Office (NSO).

PRESS RELEASE ISSUED BY THE MINISTRY FOR FINANCE

This contributed to the positive results shown by the latest fiscal data released by Eurostat on the deficit and debt-to-GDP ratios. Indeed, out of the 28 EU member states, Malta successfully recorded the second biggest surplus and was also ranked the country with the fourth largest fall in the debt-to-GDP ratio in the first quarter of this year.

The Consolidated data shows that while recurrent revenue increased by €49.7 million or 3.1 per cent during the first six months of 2016, recurrent expenditure recorded a marginal increase of €2.3 million or 0.1 per cent over last year and remained below the Budget forecast for the same period.

“I am pleased to note that Government finances for the first half of this year continue to be in line with projections while outperforming previous years,” commented Minister for Finance Prof Edward Scicluna.

Friday, 29 July 2016