ROME: Italy posted a state sector budget deficit of 7.2 billion euros ($8.05 billion) in February, compared with a deficit of 12.7 billion euros in the same month last year, the Treasury said on Monday.
The Treasury said the narrower deficit was due to higher tax receipts compared with February 2014, when less tax revenue was booked due to differences in the repayment calendar.
Lower interest payments on public debt also helped reduce the deficit, the Treasury said.
In the first two months of the year, Italy had a state sector deficit of around 3.8 billion euros, after posting a monthly surplus of 3.4 billion euros in January.
The state sector borrowing requirement (SSBR), a measure of the gap between central government spending and income, differs from the broader "general government" accounts, which the European Union Stability and Growth Pact refers to when assessing countries' deficit performances.
Italy's general budget deficit in 2014 squarely hit the EU's ceiling of 3 percent of output, according to data released earlier on Monday.
The government aims to reduce the overall deficit to 2.6 percent of GDP in 2015. ($1 = 0.8946 euros)
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