The Greek state’s primary budget surplus for 2018 reached 4.4 percent of GDP, according to the country’s statistics authority, EL.STAT.
The figure exceeds the already high 3.9-percent performance posted in 2017.
The target by the finance ministry was 3.9 percent of GDP for the previous year.
The development marks the fourth year in a row where the primary budget surplus has exceeded the set target. As a result of the greater “fiscal space”, the current Tsipras government has invested in doling out “seasonal” subsidies based on income criteria.
Conversely, much of the opposition charges that the extremely high fiscal targets absorb much-needed capital from the “real economy”, with a portion then used as welfare spending by the leftist SYRIZA government.
