ATHENS (MNI) – Greece’s state budget deficit shrank by 36.5% in
calendar year 2010, more than the government’s target of a 33.2%
reduction, according to preliminary data released Monday by the Greek
Finance Ministry.
The ministry noted in a statement that those figures reflect “only
the execution of the state budget and not the totality of fiscal data
included in the general government deficit…which are used for Greece’s
official evaluation” by the EU.
This means that the figures are expected to change when other
important data, such as government obligations to indebted public
utilities companies, hospitals, local government and insurance funds,
are included.
According to the ministry, the deficit reduction in the twelve
months from January through December was mainly attributed to a
higher-than-expected reduction in public spending, which was cut 9%
compared with a target of 7.5%.
Revenues posted a significant gain of around 7%, but that was still
lower than the government’s 8.1% target for the year. The increase in
revenues is mainly attributable to a one-off measure introduced by the
finance ministry in October for favorable settlement of the tax arrears
of businesses and households. The measure, which had been set to expire
in November, was extended twice so far and is still going.
–Angelika Papamiltiadou, a_papamiltiadou@hotmail.com
[TOPICS: M$X$$$,M$$CR$,MGX$$$]
