



According to data presented by the Ministry of Finance, on Thursday, the Greek primary budget surplus is amounting to 2.67 billion euros ($3.68 billion) for the first 11 months of the year, remaining on track to meet annual fiscal targets.

As reported by the website of the Wall Street Journal, the surplus stands at 1.2 billion euros between January and November of 2013, excluding bond profit returns of €1.5 billion from the European central banks to Greece.

Earlier this week, the Greek Parliament voted on the 2014 budget, which shows that the expected primary surplus of 812 million euros for 2013. This amount is double the government’s forecasts from two months ago.

This is Greece’s first primary surplus in a decade, enabling the Greek government to negotiate under new terms with its creditors, the European Union, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund.

For the first 11 months of the year, the government’s revenue income decreased to 42.7 billion euros from 42.9 billion, slightly falling off the annual target.

The spendings for the same period, fell to 50.3 billion euros, from 58.7 billion euros in the corresponding period in 2012.

The state budget only includes the operations of Greece’s central government, and not general government accounts, which contain local government, military spending, and some further national accounts.



