Greece Ends Year With Surplus; Passes Landmark Budget That Projects Continued Economic Growth

ATHENS, Greece, Dec. 14, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- The Greek parliament has approved a 2017 budget that calls for continued spending restraint and 2.7% economic growth.

Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said that 2017 will mark Greece's "final exit" from its nearly decade-long financial crisis. The budget adds more than 1 billion euros in new taxes, mostly indirect taxes on items from phone calls to alcohol. It also cuts spending by over 1 billion euros.

"Greece is meeting and exceeding goals for the third year in a row,'' said Mr. Tsipras. Noting that Greece notched a 1.75% budget surplus in 2016, Mr. Tsipras predicted the 2017 surplus would reach 2%.

Mr. Tsipras said revenue targets had been exceeded for the second year in a row in 2016, almost double the initial goal. He said growth in Greece's economy signals a return to economic stability. "Indeed, in the third quarter, recorded growth in gross domestic product of 1.8% of GDP, the largest since the beginning of the crisis," Mr. Tsipras said.

According to government figures, investment into the country increased in 2016 by 3.3%, while the second and third quarter of 2016 saw investment grow by 10%. In 2017, the government projects new investment will increase by 9.1%. Mr. Tsipras noted Greece was ranked first by the OECD in reforms and changes in 2015-16.

In an address to Parliament, Finance minister Euclid Tsakalotos stressed that the government's position is in relaying the "real story" to the citizens and the country's partners while on the issue of unemployment, which has been reduced from 27% to 23% and is expected to fall further in 2017.

George Chouliarakis, the Alternate Minister of Finance, said "the vast majority of issues'' with the country's creditors have been agreed upon, including market and financial sector reforms, as well as in the areas of health, education and tax collections.

For more information, please contact:
Dimitris Karamanis
Government Spokesman's Office
email: [email protected] 
Phone +302103385216 

SOURCE Government of Greece