The primary budget surplus for the period January-November 2014 more than doubled from last year, however, social security funds are showing a significant deficit.
According to figures released by the Ministry of Finance Thursday, the social security pension fund deficit has increased to 741 million euros, as contributions are decreasing. The cash reserve of the social security pension fund is now 435 million euros, when at the end of November 2013 it was 2.15 billion euros, or a 79.8 percent decrease.
Unemployment has caused the shrinking of contributions to pension funds, which decrease at an average of 2.9 percent each year. Since July 2014, the rate of contributions to the Social Security Fund (IKA) have dropped by 3.9 percent due to unemployment and salary cuts.
However, the general government budget figures tell another story as the primary surplus rose to 3.7 billion euros, 2.2 billion up compared to the first eleven months of 2013. The figure is due to a primary surplus of 1.8 billion euros against a 2.7 billion euro primary deficit in 2013.
State debts to suppliers and taxpayers dropped to 4.5 billion euros at the end of November, while it was 5 billion at end of October. The drop was caused by the repayment of dues to state suppliers, as the balance of outstanding tax rebates posted an increase in November. General Accounting Office data show that arrears to suppliers fell to 3.8 billion euros from 4.3 billion in October and from 4.2 billion at the start of last year. The tax rebates that were still pending at the end of November grew to 731 million euros, when they were 718 million the previous month.
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