LJUBLJANA (Slovenia), January 31 (SeeNews) – Slovenia closed last year with a budget surplus of 225 million euro ($616.2 million), compared to a surplus of 536.9 million euro in 2018, the finance ministry said on Friday, citing preliminary data.

Total budget revenues increased 1.4% year-on-year to 10.14 billion euro in 2019, while expenditures rose 4.7% to 9.9 billion euro, the finance ministry said in a statement.

“This increase in expenditure is mainly linked to changes in the labour market: an agreement on wage and promotion increases, continued employment growth, and measures in the framework of transfers to individuals and households,” the ministry explained.

Tax revenues increased 5.2% to 8.7 billion euro in 2019. VAT revenues, which mostly depend on the growth of private and government consumption, rose by 3.1% to about 3.9 billion euro.

Corporate income tax revenue increased by 17.9% to around 997 million euro.

($=0.90718 euro)