• Year-to-June 2012 General Government Deficit recorded a decrease of ca 12.9% YoY • Primary deficit at ca 0.49 bn, decreased by 87.8% YoY on the back of decreased grants to general government entities and rationalization of wages and pensions expenditures • General government arrears at elevated levels; increased relative to their end-of-May 2012 level • Creation of new arrears might bring forward doubts over the attainability of the 2012 fiscal target given the still lingering weaknesses in the reporting of general government obligations