By the end of October 2014 the fiscal outlook looked positive as the public deficit narrowed by 30.71% year on year (y-o-y) to $2.44B. This progress was due to an increase of the total revenues by 11.48% to $8.83B y-o-y and an annual decline in total expenditures of 1.50% to $11.27B. On the other hand, the primary surplus (excluding debt services) as of October 2014 stood at $1.13B, up from a previous $313M primary deficit during the same period last year.
In terms of tax inflow, a yearly gain of 3.58% to $6.07B was registered, by the end of October 2014. Into specifics, miscellaneous tax revenues recorded the largest change with an annual increase of 8.99% to $2.97B while VAT revenues improved y-o-y by 1.29% to 1.97B. Meanwhile, customs revenues declined to $1.13B from $1.19B during the same period.
Telecom revenues constituted the main source of non-tax earnings with a tally of $1.07B by the end of October 2014, representing a 5.44% y-o-y increment. This is likely a one-off transaction since telecom companies paid their arrears.
In regards to debt payments, interest expenditures on government debt grew by 12.07% annually, by the end of October 2014 to $3.41B. Furthermore, by October 2014 domestic and foreign debt indicated an annual increase from $1.89B to $2.2B and $1.16B to $1.21B, respectively. |