ATHENS, Greece -
Greece is expected to achieve a primary budget surplus of 2.9% of output next
year, a finance ministry official said Saturday, which will be just shy of the
3% target set out under the terms of its bailout deal.
The budget for next year will then be submitted
to the "troika" of inspectors from its international lenders as part
of a bailout review, which will be overseen by the European Union and
International Monetary Fund.
Staikouras added Saturday that the finance
ministry was planning to cut by 30% a controversial "solidarity tax"
introduced at the height of Greece's debt crisis.
The Greek government had previously
indicated that a heating oil consumption tax would also be reduced. The
government is planning to cut these unpopular crisis taxes in order to show
that their intensely unpopular austerity measures are working to turn the
country's finances around.
Greece is trying to recover from an economic
crisis that wiped out almost a quarter of its GDP and sent unemployment to
record highs of nearly 27%. The country's debt following the 2008 global
recession became so unmanageable that the country required a bailout from the
EU and IMF.
Greece topped its fiscal targets last year,
achieving a budget surplus a year ahead of schedule, which has paved the way
for talks on additional debt relief from its euro zone lenders.
(Πηγή: bignewsnetwork.com)
