Greek deficit worse than first thought

No1Doyen


Joined: 04/07/2008
Posts: 16617

Message Posted:
16/11/2010 00:27

Greece's goal of reducing its gargantuan debt received a fresh blow today when the EU statistics agency announced that the country's 2009 budget deficit was worse than first thought.

Greece’s budget deficit was revised to the highest in the euro region, putting pressure on Prime Minister George Papandreou to adopt more austerity measures to meet pledges included in the bailout package that allowed the country to avoid default

No1Doyen


Joined: 04/07/2008
Posts: 16617

Message Posted:
16/11/2010 00:28

Greece’s shortfall last year was revised to 15.4 percent of gross domestic product from 13.6 percent, surpassing Ireland at 14.4 percent, Eurostat, the EU’s Luxembourg-based statistics office said today. The shortfall this year will be 9.4 percent of GDP, more than the 8.1 percent the government announced in May, the Greek Finance Ministry said today in a separate statement

No1Doyen


Joined: 04/07/2008
Posts: 16617

Message Posted:
16/11/2010 00:30

Eurostat also revised Greece’s 2009 debt to 126.8 percent of GDP, surpassing Italy as the region’s most-indebted country. The debt will jump to 144 percent this year, the Finance Ministry said today. That would be the highest for any country since the start of the euro.

No1Doyen


Joined: 04/07/2008
Posts: 16617

Message Posted:
16/11/2010 00:31

Greece’s widening deficit and questions about the accuracy of its economic data have undermined the credibility and enforcement of the EU’s budget rules, which call for euro members to keep their shortfall at less than 3 percent of GDP. To prepare the revisions, Eurostat exercised for the first time new audit powers it was granted after the EU learned Greece had used secret financial transactions to reduce debt.

Blackpoolfan


Joined: 03/12/2008
Posts: 1568

Message Posted:
16/11/2010 00:34

Shame for the Greeks, do we have to bail them out eventhough we are not in the euro????

zerochlor


Joined: 03/04/2009
Posts: 4024

Message Posted:
16/11/2010 00:39

does it really matter?

yrret


Joined: 17/08/2010
Posts: 761

Message Posted:
16/11/2010 06:25

That Euro is an expensive club Zero.

Certainly puts the costs of the Urban Bug into perspective.

Blackie


Joined: 20/12/2007
Posts: 129

Message Posted:
16/11/2010 12:26

Countries like Greece, Portugal, Ireland should not be in the Euro because the euro prevents them from devaluing the currency and from quantative easing ie printing money to help them get out of the crisis they afre in. The double whamy is that when countries like Germany forge ahead this helps to strengthen the euro and means that tourism and exports more expensive. It may have seemed like a good idea at the time when times were good but when times are bad its not so good.

bigOz


Joined: 29/09/2010
Posts: 1244

Message Posted:
16/11/2010 12:43

Maybe they should cut down on their military expenditure?

deputydawg


Joined: 30/03/2010
Posts: 1727

Message Posted:
16/11/2010 13:20

Not as bad as I thought but the cover up is slowly being revealed piecemeal. As far as I am concerned the only sensible thing the UK has done with regard to the EU is not use the Euro as a prime currency ........yet ?

breezyboy


Joined: 14/05/2007
Posts: 1179

Message Posted:
16/11/2010 15:54

More chuckling from The Gnomes of Ankara!

mikelapta



Joined: 20/11/2008
Posts: 2186

Message Posted:
16/11/2010 17:42

Greece is a lovely country.It's only problem is that it is full of Greeks.

tsmlion


Joined: 17/08/2009
Posts: 39

Message Posted:
16/11/2010 17:44

Cyprus' debt rating has just been downgraded.

swyflot


Joined: 07/11/2008
Posts: 916

Message Posted:
16/11/2010 21:44

Don't know if this is relevant to the thread but went over to the Greek side today and every shop eerily quiet

No1Doyen


Joined: 04/07/2008
Posts: 16617

Message Posted:
16/11/2010 21:46

settlor. Like the rest of Europe no one has any money to spend.