November 15, 2010
Eurostat revises Greek 2010 deficit at 9.4%
Via Alkman Granitsas at the Wall Street Journal:
"The revision comes as Greece scrambles to meet its deficit targets for this year and next under the terms of a EUR110 billion bailout agreed to in May with the International Monetary Fund and the European Union.
A delegation of IMF, EU and European Central Bank officials--known locally as the troika--are in Athens Monday to review Greece's progress in meeting those goals, and to decide on its eligibility to receive a third installment of that loan this year.
Under the terms of the loan, Greece must cut its budget deficit to 8.1% of gross domestic product this year--from a previously estimated 13.8% gap in 2009--and to 7.6% of GDP in 2011.
With a higher starting point for the deficit last year--and combined with lagging tax revenues this year--the government will have to adopt an estimated EUR4 billion in further spending cuts to meet its fiscal targets for 2011, government officials say.
"We expect very hard negotiations with the troika after the revised number," a senior government official said. "
Greece's Golden Visa program
