The state sector borrowing requirement on a provisional basis for the month of October 2008 was 13,000 million, around 4,600 million higher than the figure for October 2007 which was at 8,424 million.
In the first ten months of 2008, a total requirement of around 52,500 million was recorded, around 14,500 million higher than the figure of 37,972 million for the same period in 2007.
COMMENT
Compared to the previous year, the requirement for October caters for a concentration of spending linked to greater interest payments in excess of 5,000 million; these result from a considerable number of Post Office bonds maturing and from interest payments on interest bearing accounts held with the Treasury by public administration external bodies (paid in December of last year). The balance for the month also reflected greater payments made by central government and tax refunds being made sooner, as well as the absence of a payment on account on the ENI dividend previously distributed in September.
The greater level of spending has been compensated for in part by a more contained level of payments to the Ferrovie dello Stato (the Italian State Railway), by the payment to pensioners (pursuant to Decree Law 81/2007, converted into law by Law No. 127/2007) previously made in July and August not being made, and by an increase in tax revenue.