October sees primary surplus of 930 mln euros
The execution of the state budget is improving each month that goes by, with official data for October released on Tuesday by the Finance Ministry showing a primary surplus of 930 million euros.
This means that the primary deficit for the first 10 months of the year has gone down to 1.1 billion euros, against a budget target for 2.2 billion. However, the smooth funding of social security funds remains a serious problem for the execution of the budget as some of them already drew by end-October almost the entire of their credit.
Although the budget targets have been revised and estimates over revenues adjusted downwards, in the January-to-October period revenues beat estimates by 500 million euros, amounting to 39.1 billion against an estimated 38.6 billion. This was due to reduced tax returns, September revenues that were cashed in in the first days of October due to a tax officers’ strike, the increase in tax revenues from interest on deposits, etc.
