Methodological Notes

1. Data in this news release is compiled in order to provide users with regular up-to-date information on the Consolidated Fund of Government. Data are sourced as follows:

i. Revenue and Expenditure, and Public Debt Servicing → The Consolidated Fund, the transactions of which are consolidated at the Treasury.
ii. Central Government Debt (excluding EBUs and Local Councils) → Central Bank of Malta and the Treasury.

All allocations provided from the Consolidated Fund are either authorised by Parliament under an Appropriation Act, or are permanently appropriated by Parliament under other relevant legislation. On the other hand, the Treasury Clearance Fund contains all those funds and accounts the expenses in respect of which are initially defrayable out of public funds and are eventually repayable from the Consolidated Fund or other sources.

2. In this release Revenue and Expenditure categories are recorded in accordance with their presentation in the 2024 Financial Estimates.

3. This news release follows the guidelines set out in the European System of Accounts (ESA 2010) Manual on Government Deficit and Debt. Therefore, the difference between the recurrent revenue and expenditure as listed in Table 1 is essentially the cash-based position as far as the Central Government’s Consolidated Fund is concerned. In this respect, financial transactions, such as proceeds from loans, proceeds from sale of financial assets, and revenue from other accounts of Government are not taken into consideration. Likewise, direct loan repayments, contributions to sinking funds, acquisition of equity, as well as transfers into other accounts of Government, are excluded from the total expenditure.

4. The debt position includes the actual debt which is held by Government. On the other hand, any investments made by Government in its own funds are excluded from the total debt. As from December 2007, the Euro coins issued in the name of the Treasury are considered as a currency liability pertaining to the Central Government.

5. The data contained in this release is subject to revision. For an updated time-series which includes past data, please refer to the Statistical Indicators for this domain.

6. The Enhanced Economic Governance package adopted by the European Parliament and Council in November 2011 included requirements on the collection and dissemination of fiscal data, through the Council Directive 2011/85/EU. The requirements in the government finance statistics domain included a methodological reconciliation table (showing the transition between monthly data used for national policy purposes and ESA-quarterly data used to produce national accounts and EU fiscal surveillance).

a. Reconciliation Table 
b. ESA 2010 Glossary.

7. Data on Government Expenditure by the Classification of Functions of Government (COFOG) classifies government expenditure data by the purpose for which the funds are used. COFOG data in Table 2 refers to the total expenditure of the Consolidated Fund and is not fully consistent with the General Government sector expenditure by function in ESA 2010 methodology, that is compiled by NSO on an annual basis with a delay of one year. The functions are in line with the COFOG classifications as published in the Government Finance Statistics Manual 2001 (ISBN 1-58906-061-X).

8. Table 3 presents the Consolidated Fund year to date in ESA 2010 codes according to the EU Council Directive 85/2011 requirements.

9. Government Finance data for December 2023 will be published on 28th March 2024.

10. More information relating to this news release may be accessed at:

Statistical Concepts 
Statistical Database

11. A detailed news release calendar is available online.

12. For guidance on access and re-use of data please visit our dedicated webpage.

13. For further assistance send your request through our online request form.