Primary budget surplus at 2.9 billion euros in January-August

The state budget recorded a deficit of 2.441 billion euros in the eight-month period, sharply down compared with a budget target for a deficit of 7.833 billion euros and a budget deficit of 12.484 billion euros

The finance ministry, in a report on the provisional budget figures (on a cash basis) for the January-August period, said that net budget revenue totalled 34.943 billion euros, up 5.9 pct from a budget target of 32.987 billion euros. Regular budget net revenue was 30.964 billion euros, or 3.9 pct higher from a budget target of 29.807 billion.

Revenues from indirect taxes surpassed targets by 26.5 pct in August, overshadowing a shortfall in revenues from direct taxes in the same month. The ministry attributed the shortfall in tax revenues exclusively to income tax and other taxes from previous year due to a delay in submitting income tax statements and delay in collecting property taxes.

State budget revenues totalled 37.384 billion euros, down from a budget target of 40.820 billion euros. Regular budget spending was 34.840 billion euros, down 18.9 pct compared with the same period last year, reflecting a 9.1 pct decline in primary spending and a 51.6 pct drop in capital spending.

Main opposition Radical Left Coalition (SYRIZA) MP Efklidis Tsakalotos described the figures given by the finance ministry as an “optical illusion” and the result of creative accounting, noting that 683 million euros were obtained by not paying tax rebates to citizens and businesses and 800 million euros from the Public Investments Programme.

Source: AMNA