Greek budget recorded primary surplus of 3.9 bln euros in Jan-Sept, BoG says

The Greek state budget recorded a primary surplus of 3.9 billion euros in the January-September period on a cash basis, from 3.0 billion in the same period last year, the Bank of Greece said on Thursday.

The central bank, in a report, said that the central government's deficit was 1.243 billion euros in the nine-month period, up from a shortfall of 1.601 billion in the corresponding period in 2018, and attributed this development to a slight decline in regular budget revenue to 35.279 billion euros from 35.801 billion in 2018.

Regular budget spending rose to 37.879 billion euros in the January-September period from 37.691 billion last year. Spending on interest rose to 5.1 billion euros from 4.6 billion in 2018.