Revenues rise by 11.8 percent during August
State revenues exceeded all expectations last month, as they grew by 11.8 percent year-on-year, against an annual target of 5.5 percent, Deputy Finance Minister Antonis Bezas announced yesterday. Value-added-tax revenues increased by 10 percent. The August rise proved wrong those who had rushed to predict that the budget would not be met and expected immediate measures to offset losses. In the year’s first eight months, revenues have totaled -33,039 million, against -31,204 million in the same period last year, a 5.9 percent rise for the whole period. In August alone, revenues came to -4,371 million against -3,911 million in August 2006, an 11.8 percent rise. The lag in revenues seen in the first few months of the year was due to the change in the way income tax is paid. Up until last year, companies and taxpayers paid all their tax in a lump sum to secure a 1.5 percent discount. This changed this year, so the revenues that did not come in from May to July will be spread over the remaining months of the year. The National Statistics Service (NSS) figures confirmed yesterday that inflation remained at 2.5 percent annually in August, same as in July, but dropped 0.7 percent on a monthly basis. NSS Chairman Manolis Kontopyrakis stated he expects a slight rise in inflation in September due to the reduction by 11 percent in the price of gasoline in September 2006, which is not set to be repeated this year. For the entire year Kontopyrakis expects the consumer price index to come to 2.7 percent, from 3.2 percent in 2006.
