The state budget recorded a primary surplus of €3,197 million, against a target for a surplus of €802 million and against a surplus of €2,300 million euros for the same period in 2023, in the period January–May 2024, according to the final figures announced by the Ministry of National Economy and Finance. 

In a statement, the ministry stated that the state budget balance showed a deficit of EUR 535 million, as opposed to the target of EUR 2,728 million included in the presentation report of the 2024 Budget for the same period of 2024 and EUR 1,116 million in the same period of 2023.

According to a statement by the ministry, there is a deficit in the state budget balance of €44 million against a target deficit of €817 million included for the corresponding period of 2024 in the 2024 Budget Report and a surplus of €220 million in the corresponding period of 2023.

Note that 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 outturn in 2023. 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.

In the period January–May 2024, the amount of net revenues of the State Budget amounted to €26,884 million, representing an increase of €1,472 million, or 5.8%, compared to the target included for the corresponding period in the 2024 Budget's explanatory report, although the location of the explanatory report included the collection in March of an amount of 1. 797 million from the Recovery and Resilience Fund (RDF), most of which, i.e., EUR 1,687 million, had been 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 EUR 3,110 million, or 13.2%, against the target. This increase is mainly due to: a) increased tax revenue of EUR 1,389 million after deduction of refunds; and b) increased PAYG revenue of EUR 1,096 million.

Total state budget revenue amounted to EUR 29,497 million, up by EUR 1,414 million, or 5.0%, against the target.

More specifically, the revenues of the minor categories of the state budget are as follows:

1. Revenues in the category "Taxes" amounted to EUR 24,715 million, an increase of EUR 1,331 million, or 5.7%, against the target included in the 2024 Budget Explanatory Report. This over-execution is mainly due to: a) the collection of two instalments of ENFIA 2024 (April and May) for a total amount of EUR 1,150 million against a forecast of EUR 982 million. 982 million euros for the two months, since it was foreseen that the first instalment would be collected in May, and b) from the better performance of the previous year's personal and corporate income taxes collected in instalments until the end of February 2024 (it is noted that an estimated amount of 647 million euros is counted in the fiscal result for the year 2023), as well as the better performance in the collection of the current year's taxes (VAT, NIC, etc.).

In particular, for the main taxes in this category, the following can be observed:

VAT revenues amounted to EUR 10,187 million and are up against the target by EUR 296 million.
VAT revenue amounted to EUR 2,714 million, an increase of EUR 72 million compared to the target.
Property tax revenue amounted to EUR 1,414 million, an increase of EUR 147 million compared to the target, due to the collection of two instalments of ENFIA instead of one as foreseen.
Income tax revenues amounted to EUR 7,434 million and are up against target by EUR 754 million, of which personal income tax is up by EUR 153 million, corporate income tax is up by EUR 499 million, and other income taxes are up by EUR 102 million against target.
2. Revenues in the category "Social Contributions" amounted to EUR 25 million, in line with the target.

3. Revenues in the category "Transfers" amounted to EUR 2,761 million, down by EUR 550 million compared to the target included in the 2024 Budget's explanatory report, mainly due to. (a) the collection of EUR 1,681 million from the Recovery and Resilience Fund (RDF) in December 2024, while an amount of EUR 159 million was collected in January 2024, against a target of EUR 1,797 million initially foreseen to be collected in March 2024; and (b) the increase of EUR 961 million in MFF revenues against the target. In particular, out of the above-mentioned amount of EUR 2 761 million collected, an amount of EUR 2 374 million relates to EDF revenue.

4. Revenue under the category "Sales of goods and services" amounted to EUR 406 million, an increase of EUR 17 million compared to the target included in the 2024 Budget's Explanatory Memorandum.

5. Revenues in the category "Other current revenue" amounted to EUR 1,567 million, up by EUR 592 million compared to the target included in the 2024 Budget narrative, mainly due to increased revenues from reimbursements of expenditure, by EUR 168 million, and from the collection of interest on deposits from the Bank of Greece, Q1 2024, amounting to EUR 196 million, which were expected to be collected at the end of the six-month period. Of the above-collected amount of EUR 1,567 million, an amount of EUR 206 million relates to MFF revenue, which is EUR 134 million higher than the target.

6. Revenue under the category "Sales of fixed assets" amounted to EUR 23 million, against a zero target.

Refunds of revenue amounted to EUR 2 612 million, EUR 58 million lower than the target (EUR 2 671 million). 

Total revenue for the Public Investment Programme (PIP) amounted to EUR 2 580 million, up EUR 1 096 million from the target (EUR 1 484 million).

In particular, in May 2024, total net state budget revenues amounted to EUR 4,347 million, down by EUR 868 million compared to the monthly target, due to the fact that the target of the draft report included the collection in May of the first enhanced tranche of ENFIA, amounting to EUR 940 million, which was collected in April 2024 (collection amount of EUR 903 million).

More specifically, the revenue by major category of the state budget for May 2024 is as follows:

1. The revenue of the category "Taxes" amounted to EUR 4,471 million, down by EUR 748 million, or 14.3%, against the target due to the non-collection of the first installment of ENFIA in the month of May, as predicted, but in the month of April, as mentioned above.

More specifically, for the main taxes in this category, the following can be observed:

VAT revenues amounted to EUR 2,016 million and are up against the target by EUR 81 million.
The revenue from VAT amounted to EUR 599 million, which is EUR 4 million lower than the target.
Property tax revenue amounted to EUR 249 million and is EUR 695 million lower than the target due to the collection of the first enhanced installment of ENFIA in April instead of May as foreseen.
Income tax revenue amounted to EUR 1,188 million, which is EUR 49 million lower than the target.
2. Revenues in the category "Social Contributions" amounted to EUR 5 million, in line with the target.

3. Revenues in the category "Transfers" amounted to EUR 98 million, down by EUR 34 million compared to the target included in the 2024 Budget Explanatory Memorandum. An amount of EUR 73 million relates to MFF revenue, which is EUR 45 million lower than the target.

4. Revenue under the category "Sales of goods and services" amounted to EUR 64 million, which is EUR 25 million lower than the target included in the 2024 Budget narrative.

5. Revenues in the category "Other current revenue" amounted to EUR 167 million, EUR 175 million lower than the target included in the 2024 Budget's Explanatory Memorandum, mainly due to a EUR 122 million shortfall in revenue from reimbursements of expenditure compared to the target. An amount of EUR 2 million relates to MFF revenue, which is EUR 11 million below the target.

Revenue reimbursements amounted to EUR 464 million, EUR 106 million lower than the target (EUR 571 million).

Total revenue for the Public Investment Budget (PIB) amounted to EUR 74 million, down by EUR 56 million against the target (EUR 130 million).

State Budget expenditure for the period January–May 2024 amounted to EUR 27,419 million, down by EUR 721 million compared to the target (EUR 28,141 million), which has been included in the 2024 Budget Report. They are also increased, compared to the corresponding period in 2023, by EUR 52 million.

On the Ordinary Budget part, payments are lower than the target by EUR 1,125 million. This development is mainly due to the slippage of the transfer payments to OFIs by EUR 845 million. On the contrary, interest payments were up by EUR 230 million and transfers to other legal entities by EUR 307 million.  EUR 134 million from the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport as a grant to transport operators (OASA, OASTH, and OSE) and EUR 138 million from the Ministry of Health as a grant to the National Central Health Procurement Authority (HCPA) to cover the cost of supplying medicines for the needs of the hospitals of the NHS and the Papageorgiou General Hospital.

Payments for the investment expenditure component amounted to EUR 4,413 million, an increase of EUR 404 million compared to the target, as there was an overshoot of the MFF target