Greek primary budget surplus came to 0.4 pct of GDP in 2014

Eurostat confirmed on Wednesday the fiscal data that the Hellenic Statistical Authority (ELSTAT) had sent regarding the course of the Greek economy last year, bringing the primary surplus of the budget to 0.4 percent of gross domestic product and the national debt to 178.6 percent of GDP.

The calculation for a primary surplus amounting to 643 million euros concurs with the government’s estimate in the 2016 budget for a primary surplus of 0.35 percent of GDP. The total general government balance (including interest payments) pointed to a deficit of 3.6 percent of GDP.

The country’s GDP declined from 180.3 billion euros in 2013 to 177.5 billion last year, for a total GDP contraction of 29.5 billion euros from 2011 to 2014.

The revision of the GDP resulted in the debt ratio shifting from the 177.1 percent of GDP that ELSTAT had estimated to 178.6 percent. In 2013 the ratio had come to 177 percent, after amounting to 159.4 percent in 2012 – the year of the PSI – and to 172 percent in 2011.

General government revenues fell to 82.3 billion from 87.1 billion in 2013, and expenditure fell from 109.6 billion euros in 2013 to 88.6 billion last year.