The Greek Finance Ministry has revealed the extent of the Greek budget deficit for the first nine months of 2015.
According to the budget data, the deficit from January to September 2015 amounted to 1.904 billion euros, while preliminary estimates had anticipated a deficit of 3.737 billion euros for the same period. The current deficit level also presents a small improvement from the January to September 2014 period when a 2.285 billion euro deficit was recorded.
At the same time the state budget primary balance had a surplus of 3.072 billion euros, while the preliminary budget estimations expected a 1.271 billion euro surplus and last year’s January to September period had a 2.532 billion euro surplus. Net interest payments for this nine month period in 2015 amounted to 4.976 billion euros.
The reduction in state expenditure, in comparison to what the preliminary budget draft had estimated, accounts for the reduced deficit level. The draft budget was anticipating state expenditures worth 40.077 billion euros, while the government only spent 36.196 billion euros throughout this nine month period.
The finance ministry has broken down the areas that increased state revenue above the expected levels:
A) CIT by 16 million Euros or 1.0%,
B) Income tax on special categories by 25 million Euros or 2.4%,
C) Property taxes by 21 million Euros or 1.9%,
D) Other transaction taxes by 8 million Euros or 2.2%.
Despite the enhanced revenue from the above sources, the overall state revenue level amounted to 34.196 billion euros, more than two billion euros below the preliminary budget estimations. The finance ministry has identified five different sources that yielded smaller than expected revenues:
A) PIT by 194 million Euros or 3.2%.
B) VAT on other items by 80 million Euros or 1.0%.
C) Taxes on insurance premiums by 44 million Euros or 16.5%.
D) Other consumption taxes by 40 million Euros or 16.7%.
E) Other non-tax revenues by 71 million Euros or 2.6%.
The finance ministry’s complete report for the January-September 2015 period can be read here.
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