ATHENS: Greece’s central government attained a primary budget surplus of 1.96 billion euros in 2017, above target due to lower spending, finance ministry data showed late on Monday.
The government had targeted a primary budget surplus – which excludes debt-servicing costs – of 877 million euros for the January-to-December period, meaning the surplus outperformed the target by 1.09 billion euros. The central government surplus excludes the budgets of social security organizations and local administration. It is different from the figure monitored by Greece’s EU/IMF lenders but indicates the state of the country’s finances. Net tax revenue came in at 48.8 billion euros, 110 million euros above target, while spending reached 55.5 billion euros, 1.75 billion euros below target. The government projects a general government primary budget surplus of 2.4 percent of economic output last year, based on its 2018 budget.
