Deficit could exceed 9 percent
The budget gap between state revenue and expenditure in the first nine months of the year is close to 3 billion euros, even though the targets had been revised for a third time, according to data issued by the Finance Ministry on Wednesday.
This development is an omen for an even bigger final deficit figure for 2011 than that on which the draft budget for 2012 was based.
Revenues were just over 2 billion euros short of the target of the budget for the nine-month period, amounting to 34.98 billion against a target of 37 billion euros. In the same period last year the state coffers had seen an inflow of 36.57 billion euros.
In order for the government to reach the recently revised target, it will need to cash in a total of 51.58 billion euros by the year?s end. That would signify revenues of 5.5 billion euros per month – an ambitious target by all standards.
To make matters worse, public sector salaries from next month will be significantly lower, resulting in a further drop in consumption and the indirect taxes that come with it.
