Three years of crushing austerity measures have helped Greece produce a better-than-expected primary surplus of 508 million euros ($663.45 billion) in the first quarter of 2013, the Finance Ministry said on April 10. That doesn’t include how much the country must pay in interest.
The budget deficit was reduced to 1.4 billion euros ($1.48 billion) over the same period although tax revenues are off projections because big pay cuts, tax hikes and slashed pensions have cut consumer spending so much.
The figures compare with a deficit target of 2.3 billion euros ($3 billion) for the quarter and an actual deficit of 334 million euros ($436.2 million) over the same period last year, the ministry said.
Although revenue declined by 351 million euros, ($458.2 million) spending cuts allowed the Greek government to beat the goals set by the country’s foreign creditors. Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras is in the midst of negotiations with envoys from international lenders who want an accelerated pace of reforms before releasing a delayed installment of 2.8 billion euros ($3.5 billion.)
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