Cash primary surplus in the first quarter at 2.6 billion euros

The cash primary surplus in the first quarter of 2023 reached 2.6 billion euros, according to the Bank of Greece

In January-March 2023, the central government cash balance recorded a deficit of €383 million, compared to a deficit of €4,481 million in the same period of 2022. During this period, ordinary budget revenue amounted to €13,898 million, compared to €11,842 million in the corresponding period of last year. Ordinary budget expenditure amounted to €15,454 million, from €14,976 million in January-March 2022.

Ministry of Finance data

It is recalled that according to the official data of the Ministry of Finance announced yesterday, on a modified cash basis, for the period January – March 2023, there is a surplus in the balance of the state budget of 211 million euros against a target for a deficit of 2,602 million euros which has included for the corresponding period of 2023 in the introductory report of the 2023 Budget and a deficit of 3,884 million euros in the corresponding period of 2022. The primary result was a surplus of 3,070 million euros, against a target for a primary surplus of 28 million euros and a primary deficit of 1,650 million euros for the same period in 2022.

The amount of net revenues of the state budget amounted to 16,830 million euros, showing an increase of 2,268 million euros or 15.6% compared to the target included for the corresponding period in the introductory report of the 2023 Budget. This overperformance is mainly due to: (a) to the increased tax revenues of the quarter, (b) to the collection of an amount of 603 million euros from ANFAs, which was not foreseen in the introductory report of the 2023 Budget and (c) to the increased revenues of the Public Investment Program.

Also, tax revenues amounted to 13,682 million euros, increased by 1,508 million euros or 12.4% compared to the target included in the introductory report of the 2023 Budget. Part of this increase, amounting to approximately 470 million euros, concerns the extension of the deadline for the payment of traffic fees until the end of February 2023, while it was estimated that this amount would be collected during the month of December 2022. The remaining amount of the over-execution comes from the better performance of the income taxes of natural and legal persons of the previous year which were collected in installments until the end of February 2023, as well as from the best performance of the current year’s VAT.