Government set for surplus in Q1

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Economists expect that the government will make a budget surplus for the first quarter of the year.

This is because of improved economic activity and a reduction in expenses from the pandemic.
The National Statistics Institute (INE) released the budget balance for the first quarter of the year on Friday (today). After a deficit of 2.8% of GDP for 2021, the government forecasts a deficit of 1.9% for the whole year.
“A small budget surplus is expected for the first three months of this year”, said Paulo Rosa, a senior economist at Banco Carregosa, considering “the improvement in the public accounts was dictated largely by a more favourable evolution of the pandemic”.
Pedro Braz Teixeira, of Forum for Competitiveness estimates a positive balance of between 0% and 0.5% of GDP in the first quarter of the year.
He said that in terms of pubic accounting a “€672 million surplus” had been recorded, (0.3% of GDP), benefiting from an increase (like-for-like) of 18.4% of tax revenues and a fall of 1.0% in current expenditure”.