Greek Ten-Month State Deficit Beats Target as Spending Drops
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Greece beat its deficit target in the first 10 months of 2012 as spending fell 13.2 percent and revenue rose.
The budget gap, which excludes outlays by state-controlled enterprises, narrowed by 42 percent to 12.3 billion euros ($15.7 billion) from 21.1 billion euros in the same period a year earlier, preliminary figures from the Athens-based Finance Ministry showed today. The government target was 13.6 billion euros. The primary deficit, which excludes debt-service costs, was 1.2 billion euros versus a goal of 2.4 billion euros.