The Greek Ministry of Finance announced that Greece managed to succeed in exceeding the primary surplus goal it had set for 2017. The state budget posted a surplus of 1.97 euros, significantly higher than the 877 million target – although lower than the 2.7 billion surplus of 2016. The deficit target for 2017 was 5.123 billion, but the actual deficit amounted to 4.241 billion, still much higher than the 2.81 billion recorded in 2016. With net revenues reaching 51.274 billion euros (i.e. 1.7 per cent off the target) and regular budget net revenue up to 48.825 billion euros (beating the target by 0.2 per cent), the finance ministry data justify the most optimistic forecast for the country’s future, particularly since the primary budget surplus excludes debt-servicing costs.
Greece is committed to sustaining a surplus of 3.5 per cent of the GDP until 2022, a commitment included in the omnibus bill that was ratified in Parliament this week. And although both the Government and the country’s lenders seem optimistic for the future, insisting that the bailout program is coming to an end, not all involved in Greek economy share this viewpoint. The majority of the country’s CEOs believe that the Greece is not off the hook and that it will need one form of supervision from the lenders, in order for the reforms to continue.
In a survey conducted between mid December 2017 and early January 2018, on behalf of the Association of Chief Executive Officers, in cooperation with the ICAP Group, two out of three CEOs stated that reforms in the recession- and crisis-battered country will continue only under creditors’ supervision. Furthermore, six out of ten also said that Greece isn’t a particularly attractive destination for foreign direct investment and 37 percent said it was not attractive at all. This is in contrast to the general notion that the voting of the legislation to impose the prior actions linked to the third review of the bailout, will improve the economic climate in the country.
