The state budget posted a deficit of €1.917 billion at the end of August, which was €758 million lower than the deficit recorded for the same period last year, the Finance Ministry reported.
State expenditures were €890 million, or 9 percent lower on an annual basis. At the same time, state income went down €130 million year-on-year, the TASR newswire quoted the ministry report.
Tax collection in August improved by 2.27 percent year-on-year, with the rise in tax revenues reaching €126 million in absolute figures, according to the Finance Ministry. While hikes in the collected tax were observed with respect to VAT (an increase of €101 million year-on-year) and income tax on legal entities (€69 million), the opposite trend was posted for excise tax, emission-quotas taxes and tax on international trade and transactions, however. Incomes from the European Union (EU) budget saw an annual drop of €279.8 million, TASR wrote.
“The lower budget expenditures result mainly from a decrease of expenditures on current transfers that decreased by €699 million from a year ago,” the SITA newswire quoted the ministry on September 2. “Within this item, spending on state debt servicing dropped by €212 million.”
According to the 2013 budget approved in parliament, the budgeted expenditures are €17.002 billion and revenues are €13.916 billion. The state budget deficit can reach €3.085 billion this year.
(Source: TASR, SITA)
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
The Slovak Spectator cannot vouch for the accuracy of the information presented in its Flash News postings.
3. Sep 2013 at 14:00
