State Finances Almost €800 mn Better than Projected Last Year

Bratislava, January 2 (TASR) – State finances performed better than projected last year, with the state budget deficit standing at €1.22 billion in late December 2017, meaning an improvement of €733 million compared to the budget approved for the same year, TASR learnt from the Finance Ministry on Tuesday.

According to the ministry, this is the second lowest budget deficit to be reported in the past nine years.

Budget incomes amounted to €14 billion last year, while expenditures were at €15.2 billion.

Corporate income tax revenues were €377.6 million lower than planned.Conversely, the amount of value-added tax collected was almost €174 million higher than projected. “Other budget revenues were €71.2 million above the projection,” reported the Finance Ministry.

Meanwhile, budget expenditures were lower than budgeted in all categories. “The savings concerned, for example, a transfer to social insurance company Socialna poistovna, a payment to the EU budget, debt management and other categories,” specified the ministry.

The lower than planned budget deficit also had an impact on GDP creation. More than €143 million was saved on government debt management. With the average interest rate on the government debt amounting to 2.3 percent p.a., Slovakia saw its lowest-ever level of interest on debt servicing.

The state made use of the favourable situation on financial markets and launched two government bond issues with longer maturity terms last year. These included an issue of 20-year bonds with a 1.99-percent yield at the total volume of €2 billion. Slovakia also issued 30-year government bonds with a 2.03 percent yield p.a.