Salient Points
- In the second quarter of 2026, the General Government recorded a deficit of €344.1 million.
- Compared to the corresponding quarter in 2025, total revenue increased by €212.3 million, while total expenditure increased by €321.5 million.
- At the end of the second quarter of 2026, the General Government debt stood at €11,977.2 million, up by €890.7 million over the corresponding quarter in 2025.
- The Government guaranteed debt amounted to €869.1 million at the end of June 2026, a decrease of €88.1 million when compared to the second quarter of 2025.
Commentary
Quarterly non-financial accounts (t/t-4)
Between April and June 2026, total revenue amounted to €2,177.5 million, an increase of €212.3 million compared with the same quarter in 2025. This was mainly brought about by increases in Current taxes on income and wealth (€141.2 million), Net social contributions (€32.4 million), Capital transfers receivable (€27.8 million) and Taxes on production and imports (€23.0 million). These were partially offset by a decrease in Market output (€30.4 million) (Table 2).
Total expenditure in the second quarter of 2026 reached €2,521.6 million, an increase of €321.5 million over the corresponding quarter in 2025. The largest increase was recorded in Intermediate consumption (€87.6 million), followed by Compensation of employees (€60.8 million), Social benefits and social transfers in kind (€53.3 million) and Capital transfers payable (€47.2 million). Conversely, Subsidies payable was the only category to register a decrease (€6.9 million) (Table 3).
Adjustments were implemented to the Government’s Consolidated Fund data to transition to accrual-based accounting, aligning with the requirements of ESA 2010. In the second quarter of 2026, these adjustments reduced the Consolidated Fund deficit by €35.2 million, from €379.2 million to €344.1 million (Table 4).
Quarterly financial accounts (t/t-1)
During the second quarter of 2026, there were increases in financial transactions in assets, mainly in Currency and deposits (€609.4 million), Other accounts receivable (€68.7 million), and Long-term debt securities (€12.0 million). In contrast, Long-term loans decreased by €6.0 million (Table 7).
On the liabilities side, the biggest increases were recorded in Long-term debt securities (€483.3 million), Other accounts payable (€473.0 million) and Short-term debt securities (€24.7 million), while Currency and deposits registered a marginal decrease of €0.5 million (Table 8).
Quarterly debt (t/t-4)
At the end of June, General Government debt stood at €11,977.2 million, equivalent to 47.0 per cent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP)1. This represented an increase of €890.7 million over the corresponding quarter in 2025, largely reflected in Central Government Debt, which amounted to €11,975.1 million. Currency and deposits stood at €398.7 million, a decrease of €32.1 million over the figure recorded for June of 2025. This includes euro coins issued in the name of the Treasury, considered a liability of Central Government, and the 62+ Malta Government Savings Bond, which amounted to €284.9 million. Long-term and short-term debt securities increased by €863.7 million and €128.8 million, respectively. On the other hand, Long-term loans decreased by €65.1 million, while Short-term loans decreased by €4.6 million. Local Government debt stood at €2.0 million (Table 11).
General Government guaranteed debt amounted to €869.1 million at the end of June 2026, equivalent to 3.4 per cent of GDP1. There was a decrease of €88.1 million when compared to the second quarter of 2025 (Table 11)
1 Calculated using the sum of the quarterly GDP for the last four quarters.
Tables
- xlsx Table 1. Revenue and Expenditure of the General Government Sector by period 283.92 KB
- xlsx Table 2. Components of General Government Sector's revenue by period 35.30 KB
- xlsx Table 3. Components of General Government Sector's expenditure by period 39.35 KB
- xlsx Table 4. Transition between Consolidated Fund and General Government Sector by period 35.25 KB
- xlsx Table 5. Financial Accounts for General Government by period - Financial stocks in assets 26.13 KB
- xlsx Table 6. Financial Accounts for General Government by period - Financial stocks in liabilities 26.64 KB
- xlsx Table 7. Financial Accounts for General Government by period - Financial transactions in assets 29.15 KB
- xlsx Table 8. Financial Accounts for General Government by period - Financial transactions in liabilities 30.94 KB
- xlsx Table 9. Financial Accounts for General Government by period - Other Economic Flows in assets 33.27 KB
- xlsx Table 10. Financial Accounts for General Government by period - Other Economic Flows in liabilities 31.46 KB
- xlsx Table 11. General Government debt by period 37.04 KB
- xlsx All Tables 478.45 KB
Methodological Notes
1. All data in this news release are in line with the European System of Accounts (ESA) 2010 Manual (ISBN 978-92-79-31242-7). This system of accounts is mandatory for all EU Member States.
2. General Government Sector (S.13 sector according to the ESA2010 definitions) is made up of the Central Government Sector (S.1311) and the Local Government Sector (S.1313). The Central Government Sector includes the Budgetary Central Government, made up of Government ministries and departments and the Extra Budgetary Units (EBUs).
3. As a general rule, ESA 2010 states that all financial assets and liabilities are to be valued using current market prices on the date to which the balance sheet relates. Changes between opening and closing stocks may also include other economic flows which are not due to financial transactions. The other economic flows are broken down into revaluations in financial assets and liabilities, and other changes in the volume of financial assets and liabilities.
4. The deficit calculated from the non-financial accounts (B.9) should be consistent with the deficit measured from the financial accounts (B.9f) however, differences arise due to different sources and estimations.
5. General Government Debt (Table 11) may not be consistent with the reported government liabilities in the Financial Accounts for General Government (QFAGG) (Table 6). They differ because of the different valuation rules: government liabilities are reported at market value, whereas government debt is reported at nominal value excluding accrued interest. In Table 11, General Government debt is in line with Maastricht debt provisions, at the end of the period indicated. All aggregates are consolidated between the different sub-sectors of General Government. The government guarantees reported in Table 11 are on debt instruments. Government guarantees include guarantees granted by the EBUs but exclude government guarantees provided to EBUs. There are two types of guarantees: one-off (individual and large amounts) and standardised (issued in large numbers, for fairly small amounts and identical terms).
6. The figures for taxes on production and imports are treated differently between the compilation of the GDP and the General Government Sector accounts. In the latter, an adjustment is made for the payment of the EU own resource on import duties.
7. The European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) was established on 7 June 2010 for the purpose of providing stability support to Euro Area Member States (EAMS). The EFSF finances such support by issuing or entering into bonds, notes, commercial paper, or other financing arrangements. The operations are backed by guarantees of the EAMS on the basis of an agreed ‘adjusted contribution key’. On 27 January 2011, Eurostat decided that the debt issued by the EFSF for each support operation must be rerouted to the public accounts of the EAMS providing guarantees, proportionately to their contribution key. Therefore, the recording of such flows impacts the gross government debt (as defined in the Maastricht Treaty) but not the net debt. In addition, all revenue/expenditure streams (interest, margins and service fees) are recorded in the General Government accounts, resulting in a positive impact on the deficit/surplus of the EAMS.
8. The GDP used in the fiscal ratios is calculated using the sum of the quarterly GDP for the last four quarters. Source of GDP data: News Release 151/2026 dated 27th August 2026.
9. All data in this release should be considered as provisional and therefore subject to revision. Figures may not add up due to rounding.
10. t/t-4 refers to the change over the corresponding quarter in the previous year.
t/t-1 refers to the change over the previous quarter.
11. 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.
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