The state sector borrowing requirement on a provisional basis for the month of August 2008 was 5,800 million, around 3,800 million higher than the figure for August 2007 of 1,960 million.
In the first eight months of 2008, a total requirement of around 27,400 million was recorded, around 2,700 million higher than the figure of 24,667 million for the same period in 2007.
COMMENT
The requirement for August, compared to last year, reflects lower tax payments by taxpayers subject to business sector analyses - the system for calculating the presumed income of certain categories of taxpayers - for whom the applicable time limit for payment had been extended to August; further, August 2007 reaped the benefit of the first application of the provisions of the 2007 Finance Act, in the form of income deriving from severance indemnities, or 'TFR', in relation to the first half of the year.
From the point of view of expenditure, compared to last year the requirement for the month reflects higher interest payments on the public debt as well as advance payments to the regional authorities to settle previous health service debts as a result of the 2008 Finance Act.