The Greek government will reportedly increase the primary budget surplus target for 2018 from a current goal of 3.5 percent (of annual GDP) to 3.8 percent, riding what’s expected to be this year’s over-performance in terms of meeting the memorandum-mandated fiscal target.
According to sources that spoke with “N” on Monday, the draft budget that will be tabled in Parliament on Tuesday foresees an increase in the primary budget surplus target by 0.3 percentage points, whereas the current projection for 2017 holding that the fiscal target will level off at 2.45 percent of GDP.
The latter figure figures in a 1.4-billion-euro “social dividend” that will be deducted from the total, with the social spending measure expected to be doled out at the end of the year. Without the “holiday bonus” calculated, 2017’s primary budget surplus would have reached 3.2 percent of GDP, almost reaching a previous target for the year, which was 3.5 percent.
Net budget revenues for 2018 are forecast to increase by 1.8 billion euros, or roughly 1 percent of the country’s projected GDP, reversing 2017’s negative trend in net revenues.
