Greece’s state budget surplus beats target in first 9 months
Greece’s central government registered a primary budget surplus of 5.4 billion euros in the nine months to September, beating its target by 3.5 billion euros, helped by higher tax revenues, Finance Ministry data showed on Friday.
The central government surplus excludes the budgets of social security organizations and local administration.
It is different from the figure monitored by Greece’s international lenders, but indicates the state of the country’s finances.
The government’s target was for a primary budget surplus – which excludes debt-servicing costs – of 1.9 billion euros for the January-September period.
Tax revenues came in at 35.2 billion euros, 1.5 billion euros above target, while spending stood at 34.5 billion euros, 2.5 billion euros below target.
September has been traditionally strong in tax revenues, since that is when Greeks pay property and income taxes.
[Reuters]
