BELGRADE (Serbia), January 4 (SeeNews) – Serbia's budget was in deficit of 374.8 billion dinars ($3.9 billion/3.2 billion euro) in the first eleven months of 2020, compared to a surplus of 62.2 billion dinars in the like period of 2019, official figures show.
Primary budget deficit totalled 278.1 billion dinars, versus a 166.3 billion dinars primary budget surplus in the first eleven months of 2019, according to data published on the website of the finance ministry.
Total budget revenues fell by a real 1.2% on the year to 1.139 trillion dinars in the period under review, while expenditure increased 41% to 1.514 trillion dinars.
Tax revenues edged down by a real 0.3% to 996.8 billion dinars, non-tax revenues went down 6.6% to 135.3 billion dinars, and grants increased to 7.3 billion dinars from 7.8 billion dinars.
On the expenditure side, current expenditure rose by a real 41.1% to 1.337 billion dinars, while capital expenditure went up to 146.3 billion dinars from 127.6 billion dinars in January-November 2019.
In November 2020 alone, Serbia reported a budget deficit of 27.2 billion dinars, based on revenues of 108.3 billion dinars and expenditure of 135.3 billion dinars. The primary deficit totalled 20.9 billion dinars.
In April, Serbia's government revised the 2020 state budget, increasing the projected fiscal deficit to 381 billion dinars in order to cover the costs of measures aimed at limiting the impact of the coronavirus crisis.
Serbia's budget balance showed a surplus of 12.8 billion dinars in 2019, compared to a surplus of 32.2 billion dinars in the previous year.
(1 euro = 117.566 dinars)