FinMin: State Budget Deficit Down by More than One Quarter Y-o-Y in May

Bratislava, 2 June (TASR) - The state budget saw a deficit of €2.837 billion at the end of May 2025, which was an improvement of €1.14 billion, or 28.7 percent year-on-year (y-o-y), the Finance Ministry announced on Monday. State-budget incomes grew by €1.974 billion, or 27.9 percent y-o-y in the fifth month of the year, while expenditures rose by €834 million, or 7.5 percent. "Tax revenues grew by €1.386 billion (or 21.4 percent) y-o-y in May. Of this, the highest proportion as usual came from value-added tax, bringing in €762.3 million more than the year before. The amount of corporate tax collected rose by €404.1 million, that of withholding tax by €16 million, while the amount of excise taxes garnered grew by €14.1 million," said the Finance Ministry. Despite an increase in transfers to local governments of €66 million, the Finance Ministry also reported a positive development in income tax revenues, which went up by €97.4 million. Income from the special levy from businesses operating in regulated branches increased by €71.6 million y-o-y. The new transaction tax brought €19.9 million into state coffers in May. Conversely, negative developments were seen in taxes for the use of goods, which brought in €6.2 million less than the year before, and in the solidarity contribution from activities in the oil, natural gas, coal and refinery sectors, which fell by €2.2 million y-o-y. "Positive developments were posted in revenues from the EU budget, which went up by €629.8 million y-o-y," stated the ministry. Payments to the EU budget rose by €58.1 million (33.2 percent) in May. The cost of state-debt servicing grew by €264.8 million (43.5 percent) in May. State-budget expenditures related to drawing EU funds declined by €635.6 million (-48 percent). Meanwhile, expenditures related to drawing money from the Recovery and Resilience Plan rose by €356.4 million (+557.2 percent). ko/df