Primary surplus overrun born out of stifling state investment

The state budget recorded a primary surplus overrun of 2.33 billion euros in the first four months of the year, against a target of just 374 million euros, State General Accounting Office figures showed on Monday. This was achieved with the incomplete execution of the Public Investments Program (PIP) and above-target budget revenues.

The figures were published just days before negotiations begin with the creditors' representatives, and suggest - for now at least - that the target set for the primary surplus to come to 3.5 percent of gross domestic product this year will be achieved. For that reason, the implementation of the tax discount reduction from January 2019, a year earlier than planned, is likely to be avoided.

The provisional data showed that net state budget revenues amounted to 15.515 billion euros, beating their target by 1.2 billion euros, or 8.4 percent....

Continue reading on: