Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1328236
7 NEWS 14.01.2021 IN the third quarter of 2020, the Gen- eral Government recorded a deficit of €316.3 million. During the period July to September 2020, total revenue stood at €1,116.8 million, a decrease of €92.5 million when compared to the corre- sponding quarter in 2019. Decreases in revenue were primari- ly due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, with the largest being Taxes on production and imports (€86.7 mil- lion), followed by Market output (€13.5 million), Current transfers receivable (€7.7 million) and Current taxes on in- come and wealth (€6.3 million). ese were partially off set by increases in Capital transfers receivable (€15.2 mil- lion), Net social contributions (€5.1 million) and Property income receiva- ble (€1.4 million). Total expenditure in the third quarter of 2020 amounted to €1,433.1 million, an increase of €261.6 million over the cor- responding quarter in 2019. Increases in expenditure were recorded in Subsi- dies payable (€137.5 million), mostly in relation to the COVID-19 Business As- sistance programme amounting to €92.8 million, Intermediate consumption (€68.8 million), Gross capital formation (€30.6 million), Compensation of em- ployees (€22.9 million), Social benefi ts and social transfers in kind (€14.8 mil- lion) and Capital transfers payable (€5.4 million). In contrast, when compared to the corresponding quarter in 2019, Current transfers payable and Property income payable registered a decrease of €15.4 million and €3.0 million, respec- tively. In order to achieve compliance with the provisions of ESA 2010, adjust- ments to the Consolidated Fund data were made. In the third quarter of 2020, these adjustments brought about an in- crease of €73.0 million to the Consoli- dated Fund deficit. Quarterly financial accounts In relation to financial transactions in assets, during the third quarter, Cur- rency and deposits and long-term loans registered a decrease of €36.9 million and €19.7 million respectively, followed by Other accounts receivable (€8.8 mil- lion) and Short-term loans (€1.6 mil- lion). Conversely, Long-term debt secu- rities and Equity and investment fund shares increased by €2.1 million and €0.7 million, respectively. Considering the financial transactions in liabilities, the highest increase was recorded in Long-term debt securities (€212.1 million), followed by Other ac- counts payable (€101.7 million) and Cur- rency and deposits (€93.7 million). On the other hand, decreases were recorded in Short-term debt securities (€96.9 mil- lion), Long-term loans (€6.1 million) and Short-term loans (€2.9 million). Quarterly debt At the end of September, General Government debt stood at €6,838.8 million, an increase of €1,192.9 million over the corresponding quarter in 2019. e debt-to-GDP ratio stood at 53.7 per cent of GDP. is increase was largely reflected in Central Government debt, which amounted to €6,835.6 million. Currency and deposits stood at €472.4 million, an increase of €93.7 million over September 2019. is includes the euro coins issued in the name of the Treasury, considered a liability of Cen- tral Government, and the 62+ Malta Government Savings Bond, the latter amounting to €382.0 million. Short-term and Long-term debt secu- rities increased by €420.7 million and €682.4 million, respectively. Addition- ally, Long-term loans registered an in- crease of €3.6 million, while Short-term loans decreased by €7.5 million. Local Government debt stood at €3.3 million. General Government guaranteed debt amounted to €1,108.8 million at the end of September 2020, equivalent to 8.7 per cent of GDP1. Compared to 2019Q3, there was an increase of €39.0 million. Government records €316.3m deficit in Q3 2020 2 Total revenue Change (t/t-4) Total expenditure Change (t/t-4) Surplus (+) / Deficit (-) € 000 % € 000 % € 000 Q1 845,750 9.0 916,942 -1.2 -71,192 Q2 910,798 2.3 888,160 -3.7 22,638 Q3 981,966 10.8 949,503 5.3 32,462 Q4 1,161,342 -1.3 1,045,404 -2.7 115,938 Total 3,899,856 4.6 3,800,009 -0.7 99,847 Q1 967,760 14.4 936,772 2.2 30,988 Q2 1,071,813 17.7 1,063,441 19.7 8,372 Q3 1,169,037 19.1 1,016,278 7.0 152,758 Q4 1,236,663 6.5 1,054,924 0.9 181,738 Total 4,445,272 14.0 4,071,415 7.1 373,857 Q1 1,045,873 8.1 1,056,618 12.8 -10,745 Q2 1,193,872 11.4 1,075,891 1.2 117,981 Q3 1,229,649 5.2 1,115,922 9.8 113,728 Q4 1,353,141 9.4 1,327,313 25.8 25,829 Total 4,822,536 8.5 4,575,744 12.4 246,792 Q1 1,151,852 10.1 1,193,246 12.9 -41,393 Q2 1,307,545 9.5 1,262,942 17.4 44,603 Q3 1,209,332 -1.7 1,171,517 5.0 37,816 Q4 1,388,289 2.6 1,362,179 2.6 26,110 Total 5,057,019 4.9 4,989,884 9.1 67,135 Q1 971,948 -15.6 1,282,759 7.5 -310,811 Q2 1,110,889 -15.0 1,522,950 20.6 -412,060 Q3 1,116,787 -7.7 1,433,119 22.3 -316,332 2020 Table 1. Revenue and Expenditure of the General Government Sector by period Period 2019 2018 2017 2016 0 200,000 400,000 600,000 800,000 1,000,000 1,200,000 1,400,000 1,600,000 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 € millions period Chart 1. General Government surplus (+) / deficit (-) Surplus (+) / Deficit (-) Total expenditure Total revenue General Government surplus (+) / deficit (-) Cybercriminals launch DDOS attack on Melita A cyber-attack on internet provider Melita yester- day resulted in a nation-wide bandwidth slowdown. In a Facebook post, the provider informed its cus- tomers that its internet services were disrupted due to a DDOS attacks by cybercriminals. e perpetrators behind the attacks looked to ex- tort money from the company. A Melita spokesperson told BusinessToday that by 5.30pm customer services were returning to normal despite the fact that the attack is still on- going. "Melita Limited has largely mitigated the DDOS (Distributed Denial of Service) attack launched against it today by cybercriminals aiming to extort money," the spokesperson said. Attacks of this nature are attempted often, with today's incident being one of the most sophisticat- ed yet. is is a global phenomenon of criminals seeking to extract money which affects operators around the world. Melita assured customers that no systems were penetrated or breached. "Cyberattacks of this nature, are increasingly common and Melita invests substantially in cyber- security to ensure service continuity and to protect customer information. e impact of such cyberat- tacks is being largely mitigated thanks to these ex- tensive cybersecurity measures," the spokesperson said.