Greek cash deficit to July narrows 78.3 pct to 1.72 bln
Greece’s central government net balance on a cash basis showed the deficit narrowing by 78.3 percent to 1.72 billion euros in the 7-month period from 7.93 billion last year, according to the Bank of Greece (BoG).
The 7-month primary cash balance turned to a surplus of 2.42 billion from deficit of 2.97 billion last year, implying a fiscal consolidation of 5.4 billion euros.
The BoG calculates the central government figures on a cash basis, while the respective items presented by the Ministry of Finance (MoF) in the budget execution bulletin are reported on a modified cash basis.
Reconciling the BoG primary cash surplus of 2.42 billion euros with the MoF’s methodology, we get an adjusted 7-month figure of 1.93 billion euros, which is 349 million above the 2.28 billion posted by the MoF in the preliminary budget execution bulletin released on August 13.
The breakdown of BoG figures showed cash revenues in the 7-month period rose by 9.2 percent to 27.03 billion euros. Excluding revenues of 1.31 billion related to the repayment of Alpha and Piraeus banks’ preference shares, the underlying figure points to an increase of 3.9 percent to 25.72 billion.
The latter indicates a further improvement compared to the 6-month underlying growth rate of 1.6 percent and is attributed to the strong revenue performance in July (up 14.2 percent).
Compared to the 7-month budget figure of 26.25 billion euros, the respective cash revenue item provided by the BoG is higher by 525 million.
Cash expenditure dropped 15.1 percent to 28.77 billion euros. Adjusting for arrears’ payments of 4.07 billion last year and 308 million this year - as well as expenses of 451 million this year related to Greece’ contribution to ESM - the underlying figure showed a single-digit drop of 6.1 percent to 28 billion.
The comparable 7-month budget figure stood at 28.3 billion euros, 293 million above the BoG underlying item.
Interest payments on a cash basis fell 11.9 percent to 4.06 billion euros, just 44 million lower than the respective budget figure.
The 7-month Public Investment Budget (PIB) balance showed the surplus shrinking to 330 million euros from 1.84 billion last year. This is attributed to the exceptionally strong PIB surplus of 1.86 billion posted in July 2013, while PIB posted a deficit of 278 million in July this year.