Minister for Finance Edward Scicluna welcomes the latest Government Finance Data published today by NSO, confirming a surplus of €4.3 million in the consolidated fund balance for the period January to October of this year.

PRESS RELEASE BY THE MINISTRY FOR FINANCE

This represents an improvement of €109.2 million, turning a deficit of €104.9 million in the period January to October of last year to a surplus this year.

Minister for Finance Edward Scicluna comments: “I am pleased to note that not only are we registering consistent improvements in the consolidated fund balance over an already successful year but also that the fiscal performance for the first ten months of this year remains better than projections. Thus, I am confident that we will manage to attain our end-of-year fiscal target with ease”.

Indeed, the significant improvement in the consolidated fund balance was the result of an increase in revenue of €374.9 million or 12.9 per cent which outweighed the contained increase in total expenditure of €265.8 million or 8.8 per cent.

Finance Minister Scicluna notes with satisfaction that all revenue categories recorded significant increases with the highest increases recorded in revenue from income tax and VAT. This shows that both employment and consumption continue to grow at robust rates.

These developments had a positive impact on debt developments as gross debt decreased by €73.9 million in October of this year, over the same month last year. As a result, the interest component of public debt servicing costs declined to €181.7 million, down from €187.0 million recorded last year.

Friday 24th November 2017