Macro roundup: Quiet data before elections

Central government budget; employment balance; import prices; industrial turnover

Just a quick roundup today, partly because I’ve been busy writing my report card for the government’s economic performance and partly because it’s been a quiet week for economic releases.

Here’s a summary of what data there was:

• The central government posted a primary budget surplus of 2.43 billion euros in the first for months of 2023, compared with a target deficit of 869 million euros.

  • Net revenue of 21 billion euros was 2.5 billion euros higher than target

• There were 123,070 more people starting jobs in March than leaving old jobs, according to the Labour Ministry’s employment balance release.

  

• The import price index in industry dropped 12.7 percent in March from the same month a year earlier.

• Industrial turnover increased 1.5 percent in March from a year earlier, compared with 6.8 percent in February.

  • The rate of increase had reached 54 percent in May of last year.

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You probably saw the two posts that went out this week grading the government’s performance. But just in case you missed it, here’s Tuesday’s guest post from Dimitris Valatsas:

And here’s my response, which I sent out a little earlier this afternoon:

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Next week’s key releases

Monday, May 22:

• March balance of payments (Bank of Greece)

Friday, May 26:

• February building activity survey (Elstat)