Ljubljana, 30 November (STA) - Slovenia is on track to post a general government surplus of 0.5% of GDP as planned, the Finance Ministry said on Friday as it revealed budget financing figures for the first ten months of the year.
The state budget had a surplus of almost EUR 750m in January-October, but this was largely due to the EUR 271m the state received in dividends from NLB bank and deferred transfers from the EU budget.
The surge in revenue will be offset with investments, which tend to accelerate in the last two months of the year, the Finance Ministry said.
Total general government revenue, a much broader category since it also includes the state-owned pension and health insurers, rose by a tenth in the first ten months of the year to EUR 15.3bn, driven by higher tax revenue and NLB dividends.
Expenditure surged by 5% to EUR 14.44bn on the back of a significantly higher wage bill, making for a general government surplus of EUR 835m.
Slovenia posted a general government surplus of 0.1% of GDP in 2017 and had forecast the surplus widening to 0.5% of GDP in 2018. Next year, the surplus is projected to shrink to 0.2% of GDP.