Government has spent nearly $10 million more than it took in during the first three quarters of 2003, according to statistics obtained by .

The figures were released on Friday in the Quarterly Bulletin of Statistics tabulations set.

The Government took in a total of $523.5 million, but paid out $532.7 million, leaving a deficit of $9.2 million for the first three quarters of the year, according to the provisional statistics, which are subject to revision.

However, Government is continuing to run a surplus on current account revenue and expenditure.

Current expenditure (money spent on the day-to-day running of Government) stood at $486.4 million for the first three quarters of 2003, and capital expenditure (money spent on large projects such as Berkeley) $46.3 million.

A year earlier, current expenditure for the same nine months was $464.1 million, and capital expenditure was $45.3 million.

Also, the published figures are still missing the fourth quarter revenue and expenditure for 2002 and therefore the final tally for 2002.

And Government spending has risen steadily since 2000, with spending in the first three quarters rising 24 percent since that year when spending for the first nine months of the year reached $431.2 million.

The following year in 2001, spending during the same period was $438.7 million, which then jumped to $515.7 million in 2002 and then $532.7 million in 2003.

Government revenue has also been rising steadily from 2000, when it stood at $468.7 million ($37.5 million more than was spent) for the three quarters, to $477.8 million in 2001 ($39.1 million more than was spent), to $512.3 million (out by $3.4 million) in 2002 and then up to $523.5 million in 2003.

In the first three quarters of 2003, Government pulled in the largest chunks of its money, as usual, from customs duty and payroll tax and paid out most on wages and salaries.

Customs duty brought in $142.6 million ? up five percent from the same year ago figure when it was $136.4 million while payroll tax brought in $148.6 million in the first three quarters of 2003, up from $133.4 million from the same period a year earlier.

International company taxes brought in $42.4 million during the first nine months of 2003, down from $46 million a year earlier, and hotel occupancy tax stood at $8.3 million in 2003, up marginally from the same period in 2002 when it was $8.2 million.

Collected land tax in the first three quarters of 2003 reached $36.6 million, compared to $36 million for the same nine months a year earlier.

During the first three quarters of 2003, vehicle licence tax was $16.1 million, up from $14.5 million, passenger tax $19.2 million, down from $21.5 million, stamp duty was $22.7 million, up from $20.4 million and telecommunications tax was well down from $8 million in 2002 to $1.1 million in 2003.

The ?all other? taxes category showed that in the first three months of 2003, Government raised $85.5 million, compared to $87.9 million for the same period a year earlier.