People make transactions at ATM machines outside a bank branch in Athens yesterday.
ATHENS: The Greek economy showed improvement in the second quarter of the year, shrinking by 4.6 percent from 5.6 percent in the first quarter, official data showed yesterday.
This first estimate from the statistics authority comes in the sixth year of recession since the country was overwhelmed by a debt crisis.
“According to available data, gross domestic product shrank by 4.6 percent in the second quarter of 2013 compared with the second quarter of 2012,” the authority said.
The latest figure shows that the recession in Greece drags on but that it is less severe on a 12-month comparison.
Last year the economy shrank by 6.4 percent from output in 2011.
The country has been bailed out by the International Monetary Fund and European Union in return for deep structural reforms to its economy, and its banking system is being underpinned by refinancing from the European Central Bank.
The government has estimated that the economy will contract by 4.3 percent this year, but the forecasts for the state budget are based on an assumption that at the end of 2014 the economy will show growth of 0.2 percent.
The budget of the central government, which does not include the cost of interest on the debt, local authority spending and pension budgets, showed a surplus of ¤2.6bn ($3.45bn) in the seven months from January to July, Deputy Finance Minister Christos Staikouras said yesterday.
He expressed satisfaction in a statement with what he called “the good results of the central government budget which demonstrates the improving trend of public finances.”
He said: “This performance proves that the target of achieving a primary surplus on the general government budget by the end of the year is achievable.”
A primary surplus is a surplus excluding the cost of interest on the debt.
AFP
