Eurostat: Slovak deficit passed original target last year

Slovakia's public deficit amounted to 2.2 percent of GDP in 2016 thus surpassing its original target of 1.9, Eurostat announced as part of its second 2017 notification concerning the deficits and debts of EU countries on Monday. When compared to the figure reported in spring, the figure for last year's deficit in the second notification increased by 0.5 percent of GDP, mainly due to negative developments surrounding corporate income tax. "Data from submitted tax returns revealed that positive developments in profitability were significantly tied to a drop in company losses, which can drive aggregate profitability on one hand, but has no direct positive impact on tax liability," wrote analysts from the Slovak central bank (NBS). According to the current figures, the public debt equalled 51.8 percent of GDP in 2016, a year-on-year drop of 0.5 percentage points.