Central government public deficit exceeds target for full year

The Spanish central government’s fiscal deficit in the first 11 months of the year exceeded the target for the full year as a result of higher interest payments on debt and transfers to the Social Security system.

According to figures published Monday by the Finance Ministry, the shortfall in the government’s finances in the period January-November came to 40.606 billion euros, equivalent to 3.96 percent of GDP. The target for the whole of 2013 is 3.8 percent of GDP.

Non-financial revenues in the period amounted to 111.099 billion euros, an increase of 6.1 percent over a year earlier. Non-financial outlays stood at 151.705 billion euros, up 6.8 percent from a year earlier. Interest rate payments and transfers to the Social Security system increased by 15.0 and 24.9 percent respectively.

The deficit for the whole of the public administrations, including the country’s regions, stood at 4.87 percent of GDP in the first 10 months of the year. The figure excludes the some 41 billion euros the government borrowed from its European partners to clean up the banking system. The shortfall in the period January-October was 0.07 points higher than in the first nine months of the year and is below the target for the full year of 6.5 percent of GDP.

The deficit of the central government in the 10 months was 3.54 percent of GDP; that of the regions 1.12 percent of GDP; while the shortfall of the Social Security system was 0.21 percent. The ministry is targeting a shortfall for the Social Security system for the full year of 1.4 percent and 1.3 percent for the regions as a whole.