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Pierre Gramegna, pictured in October 2020 (Photo: Romain Gamba) 

The pandemic continued weighing heavily on the public purse last month. At the end of October, the administration’s deficit was at €2.2bn, compared to a surplus of €800m at the same time last year.

Finance minister Pierre Gramegna (DP) presented these numbers to lawmakers on 20 November as part of a monthly update on state finances.

Revenue went down 5.9% compared to the same time last year, largely due to measures taken to boost company liquidity, such as speeding up the payment of VAT refunds and delaying advance payments. Spending on the other hand rose 13% compared to the end of October 2019.

At the end of October, 75.3% of the revenue anticipated in the 2020 budget had been collected. On the other hand, spending was already at 91.2% of what was planned before the pandemic struck.

This article was original published in French on Paperjam.lu and has been translated and edited for Delano.