State General Accounting Office

After many months of outperformance, March tax revenues were slightly short of the budget target, perhaps signaling a return to balance and certainly justifying the government's refusal to offer any handouts at this stage, so as not to disturb fiscal stability.

The State General Accounting Office is demanding from pensioners the return of retroactive amounts that correspond to salaries higher than those to which they were entitled if they continued to work wider public sector entities after their retirement.

The new government begins its term with a budgetary cushion of almost 3.7 billion euros, as the definitive January-May budget execution data showed on Monday a primary a surplus of €2.3 billion, instead of a primary deficit of almost €1.4 billion euros the budget had targeted.

The planning for the new salary system for civil servants, which New Democracy has promised, is oriented toward increases that will exceed 10% for low-paid workers and will be limited to 2-3% for high-paid workers.

Electronic invoices will be required for all state procurements, totaling €11 billion every year, according to a new plan drafted by the ministries of Digital Governance and Finance. 

The state budget showed a primary deficit of 9.06 billion euros in the year's first 10 months, according to provisional figures released yesterday by the State General Accounting Office, compared to the revised target for a primary deficit of €9.69 billion.

The discount for the timely payment of taxes helped prevent budget revenues from collapsing in April, although they did post a reduction of 1.35 billion euros in the January-April period, according to data announced by the State General Accounting Office on Monday.

The figures are depressing. In just one month the 2020 budget has gone out the window due to the Covid-19 pandemic, as spending soars as a result of the handouts to workers and enterprises and revenues crumble due to the suspension of corporate tax obligations - and the economic support cycle has only just got started.

At least 50 percent of enterprises in Greece are hurting due to the crisis caused by new coronavirus, according to data presented by Finance Minister Christos Staikouras on Friday. In total, 440,000 corporations employing about 1 million workers with a turnover of 6.5 billion euros per year are showing a reduction in their financial figures, State General Accounting Office figures indicate.

The state budget has shown the first signs of derailment this year, as net revenues lagged their target in January-February by 476 million euros, or 5.9 percent, also partly due to the reduced revenues of the Public Investments Program.