A first copy of a draft budget for 2018 includes a forecast for a primary budget surplus in 2018 reaching 3.57 percent of GDP – up from a 3.53-percent forecast included in the Medium Term Fiscal Strategy (MTFS).
The draft budget was tabled in Parliament on Monday afternoon.
The forecast for the ongoing year, meanwhile, was increased from 1.9 to 2.2 percent of GDP, an indication that the finance ministry aims to extend a fiscal “cushion” of around 800 million euros.
In accentuating the positive, the leftist-rightist coalition government forecasts GDP growth next year of 2.4 percent of GDP, up from the previous target of 1.8 percent.
