The budget shows a primary surplus of €8.74 billion for the January-September period, against a target of a primary surplus of €5.29 billion and a primary surplus of €5.98 billion for the same period in 2023.

According to the provisional state budget execution data, on a modified cash basis, for the period January-September 2024, there is a surplus in the state budget balance of €1.57 billion against a target for a deficit of €1.44 billion included for the corresponding period of 2024 in the 2024 Budget Report and a deficit of €397 million in the corresponding period of 2023. 

As noted by the Ministry of Finance, part of the difference in tax revenue collections of €647 million is counted in the fiscal year 2023 outturn, while an amount related to deferral of transfer payments to subsectors of €1.683 million and expenditure on armaments programs of €899 million (i.e., a total of €2.582 million) does not affect the outturn in fiscal terms.

Excluding the above amounts, the excess of the primary surplus of the state budget over the target for the January-September period amounts to €216 million.

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 outcome of the central administration and not to the general government as a whole, which includes the fiscal outcomes of the legal entities and the sub-sectors.