Slight decrease in state arrears
The state’s expired debts posted a slight decrease in November 2015 compared with October, but remained particularly high for yet another month, further aggravating the situation for suppliers.
Finance Ministry data for the first 11 months of last year showed on Thursday that expired arrears, including unpaid tax rebates, added up to a total of 5.7 billion euros, boosting the primary budget surplus to 5.143 billion euros by the end of November, against 3.682 billion a year earlier.
The data showed that expired debts to suppliers dropped from 5.144 billion euros at end-October to 5.013 billion at end-November, while outstanding tax rebates fell to 715 million euros from 758 million in October.
The biggest debtors are social security funds, which owed 2.79 billion in November from 2.77 billion in October. Of that amount, 1.81 billion is owed by the country’s main healthcare provider, EOPYY, and 566 million by the civil servants’ fund. State hospitals created unpaid debts of 1.12 billion euros in the first 11 months of last year, while local authorities owed 307 million.
The ministry data also showed that budget revenues amounted to 44.9 billion euros in the January-November 2015 period, compared to 45.5 billion in the same period of 2014, entailing a decline of 1.3 percent.
