Greek budget revenues in January exceeded the indebted country's target, boosted by a one-off tax on big corporations, according to preliminary finance ministry data today.
Ordinary net budget revenues, which exclude social security organisations and local government, rose at an annual rate of 16.5 per cent versus a 10.8 per cent target in the country's 2010 budget, boding well for Athens' efforts to cut its budget deficit by 4 percentage points to 8.7 per cent of GDP this year.
The European Union, alarmed that Greece's fiscal problems are hurting confidence in the euro currency, is pressing Athens to slash its budget gap to the group's 3 per cent ceiling by 2012.
Central government spending dropped at an annual clip of 10.6 per cent, versus a 2.8 per cent target. The central government posted a €574 million ($783.5 million) surplus in January, versus a €1.55 billion deficit in the same month last year.
The released figures refer to the central government deficit, not the general government deficit measured under euro zone rules, and therefore do not offer a complete picture.
The general government deficit includes hefty spending areas such as welfare and pension payments.
The ministry said January data would be finalised at the end of February.