Brussels, 18/02/2010 (Agence Europe) - The Greek minister for finance intends to regularly inform the public about the most recent developments involving implementation of his commitments to reduce the country's deficit. In the first edition of a newsletter published on Thursday 18 February, the authorities provided an update on application of the Stability Programme in Greece. They stated that the 2010 budget is “on track”. The authorities note that initial accomplishments in January included a surplus of €574 million in the state budget (as opposed to a €1554 million deficit in the same period in 2009). Tax receipts increased by 16.5% in January (also due to certain one-off taxes), the annual target sought was + 10.8%. Spending fell by 10.6% in relation to an annual target of - 2.8%. The vast majority of these measures are supposed to lead to a deficit reduction of 4% of GDP in 2010 and will be implemented by mid-March. According to the authorities, these measures will focus on revenue and spending areas.
On Wednesday, Prime Minister George Papandreou repeated that his country was not asking for money from German, French, Italian or other taxpayers but “what we want is political support to end profiteering and the defamation of our country”. (A.B./transl.fl)