Sharp drop in Maltese Church's income in 2015, collections up

The Archdiocese of Malta saw its income fall to €6.44 million in 2015 from €7.97m in 2014, while a small drop was also registered in its expenditure, ending with a net surplus of €172,365 for 2015.

The decline in income was registered because an additional dividend received from APS Bank in 2014 was not repeated last year and because of lower interest rates on investments and lower realised capital gains.

On the other hand, collections and donations, and the clergy fund, registered healthy increases, as did income from property.

This was announced by Michael Pace Ross, the Archdiocese’s administrative secretary, at a press conference at the Archbishop’s Curia in Floriana, on Thursday.

Two-thirds of the Archdiocese’s total expenditure in 2015 went to remuneration for clergy and lay employees, whereas operational costs dropped by 45%, after bad debts were recovered.

The expenditure on repairs, maintenance and improvements on properties in 2015 amounted to €115,666, down from €306,502 in 2015.

Although income was higher than expenditure, final results were influenced by the payment of subsidies to ecclesiastical entities and unrealised gains on exchange.

In total, the archdiocese spent €844,957 on such subsidies in 2015, as opposed to €1.1m in 2014, mainly because it did not have to subsidise any of the children’s homes since these expenses were covered by private donations and income from inheritances.

The net loss after the distribution of subsidies stood at €622,810.

The archdiocese recorded substantial unrealised gains on exchange for the year running, due to the strength of the pound sterling and the US dollar against the Euro, resulting in an overall net surplus.