A primary surplus of €3.152 billion was recorded in the January–May period, against a target for a primary surplus of €802 million and a primary surplus of €2.300 billion for the same period in 2023. 

As the Ministry of Finance stresses, part of the difference in the primary surplus against the target in cash terms is not counted in the 2024 primary outcome in fiscal terms. Indicatively, an amount of €159 million related to Recovery and Resilience Fund revenues does not affect the outcome in fiscal terms, while a significant part of the difference in tax revenue collections of €647 million is counted in the fiscal year 2023 outcome. Therefore, the primary outcome in budgetary terms differs from the outcome in cash terms. It should be noted that the above refers to the primary result of the Central Administration and not to the general government as a whole, which includes the fiscal results of the legal entities and the sub-sectors of OTAs and OKAs.

This means that, based on preliminary data on how the state budget was implemented on a modified cash basis from January to May 2024, there is a deficit in the state budget balance of €580 million. This is compared to a target deficit of €2,728 million set for the same time period in the 2024 Budget Report and a deficit of €1,116 million for the same time period in 2023.

In the period January–May 2024, the amount of net state budget revenues amounted to € 26,838 million, an increase of €1,426 million or 5.6% compared to the target included for the corresponding period in the 2024 Budget's explanatory report, although the target in the explanatory report included the collection in March of an amount of €1,797 million from the Recovery and Resilience Fund (RRF), most of which, i.e., €1,687 million, was collected in December 2023 and an additional amount of €159 million was collected in January 2024.

Excluding the above amount, net revenue shows an increase of €3,064 million, or 13%, against the target. This increase is mainly due to: a) increased tax revenue of €1,501 million after deduction of refunds; and b) increased PAYG revenue of €1,049 million.

Tax revenues amounted to €24,827 million, an increase of €1,443 million, or 6.2%, compared to the target included in the 2024 Budget Explanatory Memorandum. This over-execution stems from the better performance of the previous year's personal and corporate income taxes collected in instalments up to the end of February 2024 (note that an estimated amount of € 647 million is counted in the fiscal outturn for the year 2023), as well as the better performance in the collection of the current year's taxes (VAT, NIT, etc.).

Revenue refunds amounted to €2,612 million, down €58 million from the target (€2,671 million). 

Public Investment Programme (PIP) revenue amounted to €2 533 million, up €1 049 million from the target (€1 484 million).

In particular, in May 2024, total net state budget revenues amounted to €4,300 million, down by €914 million compared to the monthly target due to the fact that the target in the draft report included the collection in May of the first enhanced tranche of ENFIA, amounting to €940 million, which was collected in April 2024 (collection amount of €903 million).

Tax revenues amounted to €4,583 million, down by €636 million, or 12.2%, against the target due to the non-collection of the first installment of ENFIA in the month of May, as foreseen, but in the month of April, as mentioned above. 

Revenue refunds amounted to €464 million, €106 million lower than the target (€571 million).

Public Investment Budget (PIB) revenues amounted to €28 million, €102 million lower than the target (€130 million).

State Budget expenditure for the period January–May 2024 amounted to €27,418 million, down by €723 million compared to the target (€28,141 million), which has been included in the 2024 Budget Report. They have also increased, compared to the corresponding period in 2023, by €50 million.