Deputy Finance Minister Pantelis Economou said Thursday that government revenues rose more than three percent year-on-year in July, in what could signal a turnaround in the country’s tax collection efforts.
“In the month revenue rose more than 3%, and if this continues in August it will signal a reversal in trend,” he told Parliament.
“This is not due to the increase in the Value Added Tax, but attributable to the work of tax offices, among others,” he added.
However, lagging revenue collections have consistently dogged Greece’s efforts to narrow its budget gap and has remained short of targets so far this year.
In the first six months of 2011, Greece’s state budget deficit widened 27.9% to EUR12.78 billion, from EUR9.99 billion in the same period a year earlier.
A medium-term fiscal plan for 2011-2015 that calls for new tax measures and was approved by Parliament in June is expected to help tackle the revenue shortfall.
(source: Dow Jones)
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