Huge primary budget surplus in Jan-April
The collection of taxes from previous years, fund inflows from the European Union and non-tax revenues boosted the takings of the state budget in the first four months of the year, according to data released on Thursday by the State General Accounting Office.
Those factors, combined with the drop in spending on the Public Investments Program and delays in paying the necessary resources to hospitals, created a primary surplus of 2.286 billion euros in the January-to-April period, compared with a target of just 374 million.
On the other hand, collections from direct taxation were particularly low, while value-added tax and special consumption tax takings were also short of the targets.
State budget expenditure amounted to 15.32 billion euros in the year to end-April, 751 million euros below the 16.07-billion-euro target. Hospital financing was 294 million short of the target, and spending on the Public Investments Program did not even reach half of what the budget had provided for: It amounted to 504 million euros, missing its 1.06-billion target by 556 million euros.
In April alone state budget spending came to 3.62 billion euros, 416 million below the monthly target, and the Public Investments Program received just 156 million against a projected 224 million.
