The April statement identified an accumulated budget deficit of between 2.6 and 4 percent with a midway value of 3.3 percent that “raises difficulties” for the remainder of the year.
“The unfavourable deviation of the deficit for the first quarter in accordance with the annual objective defined in the state budget for 2016 [2.2 percent of GDP] does not necessarily jeopardise its compliance but raises challenges for budgetary implementation over the forthcoming quarters,” the UTAO statement detailed.