The primary surplus on a modified cash basis stood at €5.683 billion for January-July 2024, compared to a target of €1.655 billion and a primary surplus of €3.558 billion for the same period in 2023, according to the Greek Finance Ministry. The Greek government budget deficit for January-July 2024 amounted to €121 million, significantly lower than the target of €3.745 billion.
According to the announcement, part of the discrepancy in tax revenue collections, amounting to €647 million, is accounted for in the 2023 fiscal result. Additionally, an amount of €2.323 billion, related to deferred transfer payments to social security funds (€1.693 billion) and defense expenditures (€630 million), does not impact the fiscal result.
The net Greek government budget revenues reached €39.205 billion, recording an increase of €881 million or 2.3% compared to the target set in the 2024 budget draft, despite the target including:
a) the expected collection in March of €1.797 billion from the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF), and
b) the collection in June of €1.350 billion from the concession agreement for the financing, operation, maintenance, and exploitation of the Egnatia Motorway and its three vertical road axes, which was signed on March 29, 2024.
Increased Taxes
Tax revenues amounted to €36.993 billion, up by €2.317 billion or 6.7% compared to the target included in the 2024 budget draft.
This overperformance is attributed to better-than-expected tax collections from the income of individuals and legal entities for the previous year, which were collected in installments until the end of February 2024 (an estimated €647 million is accounted for in the 2023 fiscal result), as well as stronger performance in collecting taxes for the current year. As a result, the excess in tax revenue accounted for in 2024 stands at €1.670 billion.
