October revenues fall short
It is certain now that Greece will fail to meet the revised budget target of 51.5 billion euros by the end of the year.
The inadequate revenues collected in October means that in order to meet the budget, the Finance Ministry would need to bring in 12.4 billion euros for the remainder of 2011, or 6.2 billion per month. In the last five years the state has not once managed exceed 5.5 billion euros in net revenues per month.
State revenues in October came to 4.2 billion euros, 6.9 percent less than the same month last year. In the first 10 months revenues added up to 38.17 billion euros, down from 40.98 billion in the same period last year. This development is exacerbating the problems that have emerged this week now that the disbursement of the sixth tranche of the Greek bailout has been frozen. Cash reserves will be even smaller than expected, putting at an immediate risk the payments that are due this month.
This is one reason why the government has decided to curtail tax returns to taxpayers and enterprises. In October, tax returns paid amounted to just 293 million euros, against 629 million in September.
