Greece said the economy, despite disappointing tax returns, has beaten budget expectations in the first 11 months of 2013, adding optimism to its belief that next year there will be the beginning of a recovery.
The Finance Ministry said it foresees a primary surplus – excluding interest on $325 billion in two bailouts, the cost of social security, city and town operations and some military expenditures which otherwise would show a big deficit.
Still, reaching that goal would allow the government to ask its lenders, the Troika of the European Union-International Monetary Fund-European Central Bank (EU-IMF-ECB) for debt relief – which it is already ruled outl
Preliminary figures for January-November published Dec. 12 showed a budget deficit of 3.2 billion euros ($4.4 billion), better than the target of 4.3 billion euros ($5.9 billion) and achieving a €1.2 billion euro ($1.65 billion) primary surplus, the ministry said.
The numbers could be ammunition for the government to use in lagging talks with the Troika over the size of a hole in the 2014 budget that has already been rubber-stamped by Parliament and stalled negotiations about a number of delayed reforms.
Greece has been kept from bankruptcy by international bailouts since 2010, and is currently in talks with lenders about new austerity measures needed for 2014, along with a range of reforms demanded in public administration.
The government has promised not to impose any across-the-board cuts, but it is planning to expand property taxes next year and to slash income tax thresholds, technically violating Prime Minister Antonis Samaras’ vow not to impose more austerity with back door costs piled on Greeks.
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