Brussels, 23/04/2014 (Agence Europe) - It is now official - Greece will not have many more months to wait before the eurozone reduces its debt burden.
On Wednesday 23 April, the troika of lenders (the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund) revealed the primary budget surplus figures for Greece in 2013, which stood at €1.5 billion, or 0.8% of GDP. Simon O'Connor, a European Commission spokesman, said the figures went “well ahead of target.” The figures come from the Greek deficit (12.7% in 2013), from which debt interest payments were deducted (4% of GDP) along with other payments, like support for the banks (10.8% of GDP), to better reflect the underlying structural budget position. O'Connor said that as far as the Commission is concerned, the Greek debt is “sustainable provided programme implementation continues.” Figures published by Eurostat on Wednesday show that the country's debt reached 175.1% of GDP in 2013 (compared with 157.2% of GDP in 2012), which is high, but in line with the troika forecasts. The most recent Commission forecasts say the debt will hit 177% of GDP in 2014 and then start to come down in 2015. O'Connor said the eurozone would address this issue in talks which will begin after the summer and last into the autumn. The eurozone has promised to reduce the Greek debt burden when the country achieved a primary budget surplus, which it has now done (see EUROPE 11064). (EL)