High primary surplus maintained in November
The budget’s 2.7-billion-euro primary surplus was maintained in November despite the precarious state of the country’s social security funds.
Both revenues and expenditure are within the target for the first 11 months of the year, bringing ever closer the achievement of a primary surplus for the whole of 2013, which would allow the government greater leverage in negotiations with its international creditors.
Tax revenues in the year to end-November amounted to 39.5 billion euros, beating the target by 8 million, while expenditure did not exceed 39.2 billion euros against an 11-month target for 39.7 billion.
However, according to data released yesterday by the State General Accounting Office, social security funds had absorbed 95.3 percent of their allocation for the whole year by end-November, with the fund for the self-employed (OAEE) already having received 97.2 percent, the farmer’s fund (OGA) cashing in 98.4 percent and the fund for OTE telecom employees (TAP-OTE) having collected 100 percent of its annual allocation from the state budget by the end of last month. The country’s biggest fund, the Social Security Foundation (IKA), had absorbed 89.2 percent.
