January a difficult month for Greece’s state budget

The Greek state budget deficit shrank to 1.196 billion euros in January, from a budget target for a shortfall of €2.243 billion and a deficit of €1.561 billion in the same month last year, the Finance Ministry said on Tuesday.

Alternate Finance Minister Thodoros Skylakakis, commenting on the data, said “the development in tax revenue was satisfactory in January despite the fact that the ministry postponed payment of VAT and other taxes for February,” adding that January was a difficult month because of the Omicron variant of Covid-19 and bad weather conditions, a combination that affected economic activity.

The state budget recorded a primary surplus of €17 million in January, from a budget target for a primary deficit of €1.145 billion and a primary deficit of €1.473 billion in the same month 2021.

Net revenue totaled €3.857 billion, 13.6% below the budget target, while the regular budget net revenue was €4.089 billion, 13.9% off the target.

Tax proceeds totaled €3.888 billion, 5.5% below the monthly target, while tax returns totaled €232 million, €54 million off target.

Public Investment Program revenue was €67 million, €358 million below target.

State budget spending totaled €5.054 billion, €1.654 billion off the monthly target and down €355 million compared with January 2021.