General government deficit, according to cash data, stood at €8,183m in 5M’12 (5M’11: €8,049m) up just 1.7% y-o-y with primary surplus at €555m (5M’11: deficit of €1,985m), incorporating:

– state budget (i.e. central government) deficit of €9,821m (5M’11: €9,500m) up 3.4% y-o-y and primary deficit of €2,349m (5M’11: €4,573m) down 48.6% y-o-y.

– extrabudgetary funds’ (i.e. legal entities) surplus of €328m (5M’11: €472m).

– local governments’ surplus of €358m (5M’11: €1,159m).

– social security funds’ and hospitals’ surplus of €952m (5M’11: deficit of €180m).

The aforementioned figures imply a general government deficit of €567m in May (from €2,873m in April and €6,916m in March). Furthermore, May primary balance recorded a surplus of €573m (from deficit of €2,326m in April and €777m in March), mainly reflecting a positive contribution from social security funds (€663m) and extrabudgetary funds (€424m).

Note that general government deficit (ESA95) stood at €19,586m or 9.1% of GDP in 2011 and is targeted to ease to €13,733m or 6.7% of GDP in 2012.

Furthermore, general government arrears (>90days) stood at €6,393m at the end of May (Apr: €6,430m), with state budget arrears at €837m (13% of total), local authorities’ at €781m (12%), hospitals’ at €1,573m (25%), social security funds’ at €2,921m (46%) and extrabudgetary funds at €281m (4%).