The state’s debts to third parties, such as suppliers, are growing by the month, according to data released by the General State Accounting Office. In the year’s first couple of months the state’s unpaid dues were up 232 million euros on last December.
At the end of February the entities in the broader public sector, including social security funds, hospitals and local authorities, among others, had total expired obligations of 3.245 billion euros, compared to 3.013 billion at end-December.
The increase in February alone amounted to 146 million euros, and the situation is likely to deteriorate further given the cash crunch the government has been up against.
The general government’s primary surplus in the year to end-February amounted to 1.017 billion euros, compared to 3.17 billion euros in the same period last year. The general government debt is down 11.7 billion euros year-on-year, at 312.8 billion euros.