Finance ministry brakes on tax refunds to raise surplus

The "hole" would be even greater if the Finance Ministry had kept its tax refund target. On the other hand, returns on September revenue, excluding reimbursements from the debt settlement program, amounted to € 387 million, down by € 105 million against the monthly target of € 492 million. Overall, the drop in the tax refund target reached € 507 million in the first nine months, contributing to a surplus of € 2,289 billion.

September was a month of double payments, the second installment of income tax and the first installment of ENFIA property tax. Analytical data, which will be released in ten days, will show whether this lag is due to the two taxes above, or whether VAT receipts have fallen.

On the expenditure front, at the State Budget level for the period January - September 2018, they amounted to € 36,936 million and are reduced by € 1,543 million against the target (€ 38,479 million). In particular, ordinary budget expenditure amounted to € 35,264 million and decreased by € 305 million against the target. Reduced against the target was mainly the expenditure for military equipment defense ministry projects by 185 million and subsidies for agriculture by 117 million.

State budget expenditure is increased by € 582 million compared to the corresponding period of 2017. An additional € 223 million has been paid for Social Solidarity Income and € 435 million for family allowances.

Public investment spending stood at € 1,672 million, down by € 1,238 million against the target. Specifically, in September, Public Investment Budget expenditure amounted to € 195 million and is lower than the monthly target of € 315 million.