Deficit rose to €1.1 billion by end of September

Malta’s national deficit stood at just over €1.1 billion by the end of September, as spending on COVID-19 measures coupled with drastically-reduced revenues caused by the economic slow down kept the government on track for its worst financial performance in years. 

Figures released by the National Statistics Office on Friday shed light on the government’s financial health, providing a breakdown of government income and expenditure as well as national debt. 

Debt

Malta’s national debt stood at just over €6.6 billion by the end of September, a rise of more than €1.3 billion from the previous year. The vast majority of that increase came through government stocks (€793.8 million) and treasury bills (€478.2 million) issued this year. 

By the end of that month, the country had spent €138.7 million servicing that debt - €8.4 million less than it had spent on debt servicing 12 months prior.

Revenue 

Government revenues were down 17.8 per cent by the end of September when compared to the same month in 2019, NSO figures show, and stood at €2.9 billion. In September 2019, revenue stood at more than €3.5 billion. 

The biggest falls were in income tax revenue, which was down just over €225...