INSTANT VIEW 1-Slovak budget surplus widens in Nov

                                
 BRATISLAVA, Dec 1 (Reuters) - The Slovak central state
budget showed a surplus of 9.577 billion crowns ($408.6 million)
from January to November, compared with a 5.449 billion crown
surplus in the same period a year ago, the Finance Ministry said
on Monday.
                                
 The central state budget was in a surplus of 7.882 billion
crowns in the January-October period of 2008.
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KEY POINTS:
CENTRAL STATE BUDGET   JAN-NOV/08    JAN-NOV/07   FY 2008 PLAN
 (SKK bln)
  revenues              307.081        290.356       348.252
  expenditure           297.504        284.907       380.233
  balance                +9.577         +5.449       -31.981

- Total tax revenue stands at 243.964 billion crowns in the
January-November period, up from 234.542 billion in the first
eleven months of last year.
- Corporate tax revenue is 57.431 billion crowns, compared with
48.213 billion a year ago.
- Value-added tax totals 126.922 billion crowns, more than
125.796 billion in the January-November 2007.
- Revenue from excise taxes reaches 52.273 billion crowns, down
from 53.291 billion last year.

  BACKGROUND:
- The central state budget deficit narrowed to 23.528 billion
crowns for the whole of 2007 from 31.678 billion in 2006. The
2007 shortfall was well below the 38.386 billion gap target.
- Slovakia introduced a flat 19 percent tax rate in 2004 to
overhaul of its complex tax system, and the tax reform has
helped bring higher budget revenues.
- The state budget is also benefiting from strong economic
growth, although annual GDP rise slowed to 7.1 percent in the
third quarter of 2008 from 7.6 percent in the second quarter.
- The central state budget data are calculated according to
local cash-flow methodology. The ministry publishes the key
public finance statistics according to the European Union's ESA
95 standards annually.
- The cash-flow methodology takes in revenues and expenditures
when money arrive or leave the state accounts, while the accrual
ESA 95 method includes revenues and expenditures immediately as
they occur.
- The central budget is the major part of public finances. The
overall public finance deficit ceiling is 2.3 percent of GDP for
2008, including the cost of pension system reform.
- Slovakia met the condition of keeping the public deficit under
3.0 percent of GDP, which was required for its plan to adopt the
euro in 2009.
                                
 
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  (Reporting by Martin Santa and Peter Laca; editing by David
Stamp)