The Greek government’s projections regarding the budget surplus for 2014 fell far short, the country’s Finance Ministry announced earlier today, citing lower tax revenue and a stalled bailout review that prevented the disbursement of funds, according to Reuters. As the report highlighted, the central government surplus excludes the budget of social security organizations and local administrations, and is different from the figure monitored by Greece’s lenders, although it indicates that the country has made significant progress in repairing its finances. The surplus came in at 1.92 billion euros, almost 3 billion euros less than the 4.9-billion-euro projection in the country’s latest budget. As for today, Athens has yet to receive a 1.9-billion installment from the European Central Bank (ECB) due last year on the completion of its bailout review, which was apparently left unfinished because of the unsuccessful Presidential ballot that triggered snap general elections. In addition, the ECB was due to return profits made from buying Greek government bonds. According to the Reuters, tax revenue came in at 46.62 billion euros, falling short of the government’s projection by 3.53 billion euros, while the government failed to elaborate on why revenue fell and Greek media report that Greeks have begun delaying tax payments after Prime Minister Antonis Samaras called a Presidential vote ahead of schedule, as it was considered certain that such a development would lead to snap elections.
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