Deficit and debt down in 2006

Gerald Fenech

The general government deficit as at the end of 2006 was estimated at Lm 53.6 million, down from a deficit of Lm 61.8 million in 2005, the National statistics Office reported on Monday.
This means that the deficit was equivalent to 2.6 per cent of our GDP, well within the Maastricht Criteria. This figure compares favourably with the 3.1 per cent registered at end 2005.
The position was also slightly rosier on the government debt side, which reached Lm 1.395 billion or 66.5 per cent of GDP at end 2006. Again this compares favourably with the Lm 1.440 billion registered at end 2005 which was 72.4 per cent of GDP.
However, statistics issued by the NSO recorded a slightly lower government surplus in the 4th quarter of 2006, which is traditionally the ‘boom’ quarter for the state’s coffers.
In fact the surplus was just Lm 11.8 million compared to Lm 34.8 million in 2005. Total expenditure increased by Lm 30.1 million whilst revenue increased by just Lm 7.1 million contributing to the steep fall in the surplus.