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The continuing delays in revenues, the rising sovereign debt and the exhaustion of all treasury stocks clearly highlight Greece’s economic plight as a whole, and its budget failure in particular.

Data show that the Greek economy has been deteriorating by the month, and therefore creditors want tough new measures in place that would lead to balancing the current budget losses.

Reportedly, May revenues have slowed down by €1 billion, although the hundred instalments regime did improve collection. At the same time, ministry of finance data indicate that the country’s arrears have increased over the first 4 months of the year by €1.1 billion. The Treasury gap has reached €3 billion in June.

In a little more detail:

1. Income: from January to May 2015, budget revenues are below par with about €2 billion. €1 billion are only due to the May hole. Slowing tax returns from individuals and businesses also contributed to the delays in revenues. But indirect taxes are also problematic due to consumer reticence in recent months caused by increasing uncertainty.

It should be pointed out that official ministry data show that the 2015 January-April primary budget surplus amounts to €651 million against €1.6 billion for the same period last year. This downward slide was mainly due to the deficit of €738 million in the pension funds, while last year they had a surplus of €438 million.

2. Public sector debt: In its attempts to make up for the shortfall in revenues, and scramble the wherewithal to service its sovereign debt, the ministry of finance defaulted on its payments. Up until April 2015, the state's outstanding obligations reached €4.8 billion, while in March they stood at €4.4 billion (including undelivered VAT recovery). YTD arrears increased by €1.1 billion.

The toughest issue is the deficit in health care. The liabilities of hospitals and the Health Insurance Fund have increased by a total of €663 million for four months, split roughly down the middle between the hospitals (MEUR 342) and the NHIF (MEUR 321).

The obligations of ministries have also seen a scale up. At the beginning of the year they amounted to €157 million while in late April they were already €478 million.

3. Treasury stocks: the suspension of payments was mainly due to the fact that the government decided to default on the national debt, and instead pay salaries, pensions and overseas liabilities. According to some sources, the government debt increased significantly in May, along with the exacerbating liquidity problems. According to the ministry of finance, the government has resorted to short-term loans (repos) from state institutions in unprecedented proportions. In late April, the amount of repos was €10.3 billion.

But despite all this borrowing, the treasury is almost dry at a time when €3 billion are needed for the June salaries, pensions, social insurance funds, IMF contributions, etc.

According to reports, if insurance funds and municipalities choose to deposit their funds in the special account with the Bank of Greece, then the treasury will be bolstered by about €1 billion.