Greece Beats Bailout Targets Again as Debt-Relief Talks Loom
- Greek primary surplus reached 4.2 percent of GDP in 2017
- Reading may boost government’s case against more austerity
Photographer: Kostas Tsironis/Bloomberg
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The European Commission confirmed on Monday that Greece beat its bailout targets again last year, strengthening the government’s case against demands to bring forward additional tax measures originally scheduled to kick in starting 2020.
Europe’s most indebted state achieved a budget surplus before interest and other one-time payments equal to 4.2 percent of its gross domestic product in 2017, more than twice the target set by its bailout auditors for a 1.75 percent of GDP surplus, the European Union’s executive arm said. Greece achieved a general government budget surplus for the second year in a row, according to the bloc’s statistical service Eurostat.