In the first ten months of 2023, the state budget recorded a deficit (of EUR 1,120 million), which turned to a surplus of EUR 57 million when excluding the impact of various intervention measures.
State budget trends in the first ten months were worse than in the same period last year. The overall deficit was higher (by EUR 845 million) and was mainly the result of the “core” surplus (excluding intervention measures), which was lower by EUR 590 million. The overall amount of all intervention measures was year-on-year higher by EUR 255 milion.
Due to a higher previous year basis, total revenue in the first ten months of this year was 1.8% higher year-on-year, while the “core” expenditure (excluding intervention measures) was 8.3% higher. The increase in “core” expenditure was mostly due to labour costs and transfers to the social security funds.
The ten-month outturn confirms the Fiscal Council’s assessment on continued unrealistic budget planning. According to the budgetary trends in the first ten months of this year and the assessment of the state budget outturn for 2023, which the Fiscal Council received with the draft budget documents for the next two years, the total state budget expenditure can increase by almost 50% year-on-year in the last two months of this year (the year-on-year increase recorded in the first ten months of this year was EUR 9.8%). As a result, the budget deficit in the last two months of this year could reach as much as EUR 2.0 billion, which would be EUR 912 million more than in the last two months of last year or EUR 637 million more than in the whole previous year.