The state budget was in deficit in the first three months of the year (EUR 379 million), according to preliminary data, excluding the direct effect of intervention measures amounting to EUR 278 million. In both comparisons, the deficit was higher than in the same period last year.
Total revenue was 4.0% higher year-on-year on average in the first three months of the year, while total expenditure was 5.3% higher. The growth in “core” expenditure (8.4%) more than doubled in the first three months of this year compared to the same period last year. This was mainly due to the high growth in labour costs due to the early payment of holiday allowance and to the increase in the transfer to the Pension and Disability Insurance Institute of Slovenia (ZPIZ) in the context of the high regular adjustment of pensions.
The total volume of the various intervention measures in the first three months of the year (EUR 112 million) was less than half of that in the same period last year.
The general government deficit was 2.5% of GDP last year, 1.9 percentage points of GDP lower than the government’s projections in October. The lower-than-projected deficit was mainly due to an expected lower realisation of investment and lower capital transfers. This was mainly due to a lower realisation of flood recovery measures than planned in the autumn budget documents.