Tag: deficit
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Public finances’ deficit keeps getting out of control
The increase in the public deficit has continued to accelerate this year as government expenditure rises faster than revenue, with higher spending on energy-subsidies, social benefits and other recurrent expenditure. According to the latest figures published by the NSO, by the end of August government expenditure had reached €6.13 billion, €896.4 million higher than during…
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Saudi Arabia’s calculator is bigger than yours
When we wrote that the Minister of Finance, Clyde Caruana, was too cocky in his excessive confidence during the election campaign, it was because of the exact events we have been warning about all along with regard to government subsidies. It is also the main and core question that I put forward to the Minister…
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Deficit continues to widen as expenditure rises faster than revenue
The government is failing to control the deficit as expenditure is rising faster than expenditure continuing with the previous trend, according to the latest NSO figures. By the end of July, the Government’s Consolidated Fund registered a deficit of €552.2 million, compared with €518 million during the same period last year. The deficit has therefore…
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Prime Minister hails Fitch rating and deficit reduction: Fitch cites detorioariting governance standards while deficit struggles
Prime Minister of Malta Robert Abela has hailed Fitch’s A+ rating for Malta citing higher than the EU average GDP per capita by 10% and said that with stable fuel prices that limit inflation, the government is still lowering the fiscal deficit. However, the report also cites that Malta is experiencing a significant deterioration in…
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Provisional government deficit for Q1 2026 at 3.6%: higher than last year and previous quarter
Provisional Eurostat figures show that Malta’s seasonally adjusted general government deficit stood at 3.6% of GDP in the first quarter of 2026, increasingly sharply from 0.1% in the same quarter of the previous year and 3.1% in the preceding quarter. The average seasonally adjusted general government deficit-to-GDP ratio stood at 3.1% in both the euro…
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EU Commission recommends to remove Malta out of Excessive Fiscal Deficit Procedure
The EU Commission has today recommended to remove Malta out of the the Excessive Fiscal Deficit Procedure. The EU Commission document says that: “The government debt-to-GDP ratio increased from 45.9% at the end of 2024 to 46.4% of GDP at the end of 2025, thus remaining below the 60% of GDP reference value. The Commission…
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Government’s revenue surges higher than expenditure this year
According to the latest government’s finance data, government revenue continued to surge up to the months of April, outpacing expenditure and narrowing the Consolidated Fund deficit to €65.5 million by the end of the first four months of the year. This is significantly less than the deficit recorded at the end of April last year…
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“Subsidies will be replaced with a long-term plan for renewable energy” – Finance Minister Clyde Caruana
During today’s press conference by Finance Minister Clyde Caruana, we asked the Minister two pertinent questions. First, we reiterated our question about the price at which the government is purchasing electricity from Electrogas. We then asked the Minister whether the government has a plan to wean off subsidies by transitioning the subsidy expenditure from recurrent…
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Malta records a €3 billion deficit in goods and €8 billion of surplus in services for 2025
According to the latest statistics of Malta’s national current accounts by the NSO, Malta has recorded a total surplus of €7.91 billion in services for 2025 and a total deficit of €3 billion in goods. The combined surplus total is of €4.87 billion. The goods deficit has narrowed in 2025 compared to the previous year…
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Where did all the money go? ; 11 Million Euro deficit in UOM funds
The reported €11 million deficit at the University of Malta has prompted pressing questions about financial management, oversight, and long-term sustainability at the country’s foremost higher education institution. As a publicly funded university, UOM carries a responsibility not only to deliver academic excellence but also to ensure rigorous stewardship of taxpayer money. A deficit of…
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EU fiscal scoreboard: who is sliding fastest on deficit and debt (Q3 2025)
The latest Eurostat data for Q3 2025 show a clear deterioration in the seasonally adjusted EU-wide deficit position, while public debt ratios continued edging up overall — but with sharp divergences between Member States. The EU’s average government deficit increased from 2.9% from Q2 to 3.2% in Q3 and total debt to GDP rose from…
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Deficit set to come higher for 2025
According to the recent statistics released by the NSO, the government’s deficit in real terms in 2025 is set to increase with the government failing to keep up tax revenues with government expenditure. The Finance Minister plans to close the deficit with recurrent expenditure this year. Government’s deficit for 2024 was up to 3.5% of…