The positive trend in public finances continues, as this is the fourth consecutive quarter Slovenia has recorded a surplus, the Statistics Office said.

Last year, Slovenia recorded a surplus of 0.03% of GDP, the first time since independence. The government expects the surplus to rise to 0.2% of GDP this year, with the first-quarter figure boding well for the plan.

According to the Statistics Office, the positive balance in January-March follows a strong revenue growth, which exceeded the growth of expenditure for the fifth consecutive quarter.

At the annual level, revenue grew by 6.1% to nearly EUR 4.6bn in the first three months of the year.

Tax receipts increased by 7.7%, which is the fastest pace since the second quarter of 2008. The state collected EUR 165m more in taxes than in the same period last year.

Meanwhile, expenditure increased by 2.1% to EUR 4.52bn in the first quarter. Growth was recorded in all major categories of expenditure but the interest, which was down 12.5%.

Consolidated general government gross debt, which includes the budget, pension and disability insurance funds and municipality budgets, also increased, by EUR 1.14bn to just shy of EUR 33bn ot 75.1% of GDP compared to the last quarter of 2017.

The rise in debt was mostly due to an increase in debt in long-term securities.

By the end of the year, the debt is to drop to EUR 32.3bn or below 70% of GDP.