PODGORICA (Montenegro), August 4 (SeeNews) – Montenegro reported a budget deficit of 160.6 million euro ($190.5 million) in the first half of 2021, compared to a deficit of 214.4 million euro in the like period of 2020, official figures show.
The deficit accounted for 3.5% of the estimated gross domestic product (GDP) for 2021, 38.4% below the plan, the finance ministry said in a statement published on its website.
"Having in mind the pronounced seasonality when it comes to the collection of budget revenues, primarily on the basis of tourist traffic, a trend of reduction of the budget deficit realised in the previous period of the year is expected, which is already visible in the result achieved in June," the finance ministry said.
Primary budget deficit totalled 101.5 million euro, versus a 147.8 million euro primary budget deficit in the first six months of 2020, according to data published on the website of the finance ministry.
Total budget revenues rose by a real 5.3% on the year to 787.6 million euro in the period under review, while expenditure decreased 1.45% to 948.2 million euro.
Tax revenues went up by a real 4.7% to 504.4 million euro, contributions grew 7.3% to 236.5 million euro, and fees increased to 4.9 million euro from 4.3 million euro.
On the expenditure side, current expenditure declined by a real 1.3% to 414.9 million euro, while capital expenditure went down to 62.5 million euro from 84.4 million euro in the first half of 2020.
($ = 0.84313 euro)