Lisbon – 1In a press release ahead of the Directorate-General for Budget (DGO) publishing the flash budget execution figures to April, the Ministry of Finance said that the general government deficit increased by €165 million on year, totalling €2.022 billion.
“This evolution is explained by a growth in expenditure (4.1%) higher than that of revenue (3.8%),” the ministry said.
The Finance Ministry said, “when corrected for the special factors that influence execution but do not affect the annual deficit in national accounts, this evolution is in line with the expected improvement in the national account deficit recorded in the 2018 State Budget (OE2018).”
In the same period, the primary surplus – excluding the burden of public debt – amounted to €1.474 billion, increasing by €418 million compared to April 2017.
