December 29 (SeeNews) - Slovenia swung to a general government deficit of 19 million euro ($22.8 million), or 0.2% of gross domestic product (GDP), in the third quarter of 2017, from a surplus of 30 million euro, or 0.3% of GDP, in the second quarter, the statistical office said on Friday.
In the third quarter of 2016, Slovenia's general government saw a deficit equivalent to 1.6% of GDP, the statistical office said in a statement.
The general government's total revenue decreased by 2.9% on the quarter but rose by 5.7% on the year to 4.64 billion euro, mainly due to the high growth of revenues from taxes and social contributions.
Investment grants from the EU increased for the first time after they were decreasing for six consecutive quarters.
In the third quarter, expenditure fell to 4.66 billion euro from 4.75 billion euro in the second quarter and was up 2.3% from the prior-year period.
In the third quarter, the government spent less for the acquisition and construction of capital formation than in the like period of last year, which resulted in lower gross fixed capital formation expenditure.
Consolidated gross debt of the general government at the end of the third quarter of 2017 amounted to 33.28 billion euro equivalent to 78.4% of GDP. Due to the high economic growth in the third quarter of 2017, its share in GDP decreased by 1.3 percentage points. On an annual comparison basis, gross debt rose 3.0%.
($ = 0.8350 euro)