The FPB carries out different activities that have public finances as their main theme:
Within the National Accounts Institute (NAI), the FPB contributes to the drawing up of the government’s accounts in the national accounting. The integration of those accounts in the National Accounts ensures that they are compatible with the accounts of the other macroeconomic actors (households, businesses and rest of the world).
The interactions between macroeconomic evolutions and the public finances are studied by means of econometric methods and modelled. These models allow study not only of the impact of government decisions on the economy, but also of the repercussions of the economic situation on the state of public finances.
The FPB carries out medium-term forecasts (five years) of the evolution of public finances.
The FPB examines possible long-term evolutions in the field of public finances (see ‘Social protection and ageing’).
Methods and Instruments
Apart from various databases, the following instruments are used:
the ‘public finances’ and ‘social security’ modules of the national macroeconomic Modtrim and Hermes models;
the Maltese modelling system - including the specific models which make it up (PENSION, HORBLOK, PUBLIC, MOSES) – which allows simulation of the long-term development of social expenditure.
Periodical Publications
Economic Budget (half-yearly, in February and September)
