A total of €1,753.2 million was spent on Economic affairs, an increase of €267.8 million over 2023. This included an equity injection to the national airline, classified as capital transfers, amounting to €156.0 million, €235.3 million in subsidies, and a further €115.0 million was directed towards energy infrastructure nationwide. Total outlay on Health stood at €1,155.2 million, which was followed by expenditure on General public services and Education, which amounted to €1,146.3 million and €1,092.1 million, respectively.

The increase in General public services expenditure was mainly on account of higher intermediate consumption (€50.9 million), property income (€50.9 million) and other current transfers (€50.5 million). Spending on Education rose by €229.0 million, the third-largest increase, primarily driven by higher compensation of employees (€126.6 million) arising from the new collective agreement in the education sector (Tables 1 and 4).

In 2024, the highest share of General Government expenditure was spent on Social protection, which accounted for 26.1 per cent of the total outlay, registering a decrease of 0.6 percentage points over 2023. This was followed by Economic affairs (20.3 per cent), Health (13.4 per cent), General public services (13.3 per cent) and Education (12.6 per cent). Defence accounted for the lowest share of total expenditure, followed by Housing and community amenities, amounting 1.4 and 1.7 per cent, respectively (Table 2).

As in previous years, an analysis of General Government expenditure by function for 2024 shows that a substantial share of government outlay consisted of Compensation of employees (25.8 per cent), Social benefits in cash and in kind (21.2 per cent), Intermediate consumption (19.8 per cent) and Gross capital formation (8.5 per cent) (Table 4).

Table 5 provides a detailed breakdown of General Government expenditure by examining the second level function of the COFOG classification. The largest share of government expenditure was spent on Old age (€1,366.4 million), which represents 15.8 per cent of total General Government expenditure. This was followed by expenditure on Hospital services, which amounted to €646.4 million, or 56.0 per cent of the total expenditure on Health. Furthermore, a considerable share of General Government outlay was spent on Transport (€636.6 million), followed by a total of €617.0 million and €430.0 million on Executive and legislative organs, financial, fiscal and external affairs, and Fuel and energy, respectively.