November deficit data beat target
The primary deficit of the state budget amounted to just 1.4 billion euros in the first 11 months of the year, which is 2.1 billion euros smaller than the original target, Finance Ministry figures show.
The deficit has been contained to such a great extent due to the non-disbursement of funds for the Public Investment Program and the building up of state arrears. However, the biggest problem remains the funding of social security funds as all of them had already used up their budget allocation for the year by end-November.
“Despite the satisfactory picture of the budget’s execution, which has been better than forecast, there is still much we have to do,” Alternate Finance Minister Christos Staikouras stated. He added that with the state economy stabilizing and the climate for Greece abroad improving, the fiscal adjustment is being implemented and the economy restarted.
It is worth noting, though, that the measures which saw the special consumption tax for diesel and for heating oil leveled has not brought in the expected revenues, as energy goods tax revenues in November amounted to just 353 million euros, compared to 389 million in November 2011.
