CHISINAU (Moldova), June 21 (SeeNews) - Moldova's consolidated budget deficit narrowed by 27.5% to 865.7 million lei ($71 million/57 million euro) in the first five months of 2012, finance ministry data showed on Thursday.
Consolidated budget revenue in January-May increased by 14% to 12.3 billion lei, while spending rose 9.8% to 13.2 billion lei, according to data published on the ministry's website.
Moldova paid 319.7 million lei to service its foreign debt in the five-month period. The government paid 253 million lei on its domestic debt in the period under review.
Moldova's consolidated budget includes the central government budget, the local budgets, the social insurance budget and the public health insurance budget.
On Thursday, the Moldovan government approved a budget revision raising the consolidated budget deficit target for this year to 1.32% of the projected gross domestic product (GDP), or 1.193 billion lei, from 0.9% projected earlier. The revision, this year's first, is yet to be endorsed by the parliament.
The country ended last year with a preliminary consolidated budget gap of 1.96 billion lei, overshooting the projections for a 1.596 billion lei deficit.
(1 euro = 15.2906 Moldovan lei)