Greece is predicted to surpass its primary surplus goal for 2018, far exceeding expectations. According to the European Commission Forecast, next year the country will have a surplus of 3.7 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), i.e. 0.2 percent above the target set by its european creditors. The issue has been the point of debate between the Eurozone creditors which have insisted on a 3.5 percent of GDP target, and the International Monetary Fund, which thought the goal as unattainable, suggesting a surplus of 1.5 percent.

Both sides agree that Greece has done tremendous effort to comply with the terms of the bailout program, proceeding with harsh austerity measures, privatization of assets and a series or unpopular reforms.

But whether the Greek sacrifices have been worthy is still yet to be proven. Despite the institutions praising Greece, much is still debated, particularly what will happen after 2018. The Greek government is being pressured to pursue a surplus goal of more than 3.5 percent, but the IMF has doubts. What is really at stake is the need for further debt relief. Standing at 179 percent of GDP, Greece’s debt is deemed unsustainable by the IMF, which continuously calls for its relief. The European Commission predicts that this will fall to 177.2 percent this year, eventually dropping to 170.6 percent. It also forecast that investment would triple to 12 percent of GDP this year in Greece, and rise further to 14.2 percent of GDP next year as the economy expands 2.7 percent in 2017 and 3.1 percent in 2018 after years of recession. At the same time, unemployment is predicted to drop to 22 percent of the workforce in 2017, from 23.4 last year, and reaching 20.3 percent in 2018.

Analysts are still concerned that this turn of events will not mean that the Greek economy is safe. But the sentiment among several eurozone countries is that, if Greece does all the agreed reforms, then debt relief will not be necessary.