CENTRAL government missed its revenue target by $344 million during July 2010, but managed to shave $3.5 billion off its planned expenditure for the month.

A $3 billion cut to the capital expenditure budget and $1 billion-less-than-programmed interest payments during the month contributed to the savings, but programmes cost $668 million more than planned.

Tax revenue at $19.06 billion was $115 million less than projected, while the Government collected only $43 million of the $480 million in grants it expected to get during July.

Tax collected from income and profits and international trade were higher than programmed, but tax earned from production and consumption was lower by $830 million.

GCT collected totalled $3.3 billion, or $380 million less than projected while SCT was lower by $370 million.

Overall, the central government beat the fiscal deficit target by $3.2 billion, having spent $6.3 billion more than it earned during July.

Importantly, the primary balance, which was expected to be a deficit of $2 billion during the month, was actually a surplus of $139 million, which means that the Government gave itself some breathing room in meeting its commitment to the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

For the four months to July, the Government racked up $16.8 billion fiscal deficit, which was $8.8 billion better than targetted.