By G. Palaitsakis
A better result than targeted for ordinary budget net revenues, by 773 million euros or 4.7 percent in the first five months of 2016 (17.263 billion euros in total), is mostly due to higher non-tax sources, according to data unveiled this week by Greece's General Accounting Office.
On a closer look, the better-than-expected result isn’t due to more effective tax-collecting by the finance ministry’s mechanisms, nor to increased taxes imposed in a latest austerity package, but instead to cyclical economic reasons, mostly early payment of dividends to the state from its share in various public enterprises and utilities.
If excluded, then the figure drops to 356 million euros above the target.
On the spending side, ordinary budget expenditures reached 18.908 billion euros, cut by 2.367 billion euros.
