Greece hopes for a budget surplus

ATHENS | Greece is expected to post a budget surplus of about 345 million euros ($463 million) before interest payments this year according to Deputy minister for Finance Mr Christos Staikouras.

Mr Staikouras said that the January-October balance stood at 1.1 billion euros ($1.48 billion). “It seems that the country will meet its national target. Of course, this is due to the enormous sacrifices made by Greeks, unprecedented in post-war Europe,” he said.

Currently Greece is negotiating with troika to resolve a disagreement over 2014 budget cuts and how to ease government protection for distressed mortgages.

But at the same time the leading opposition party SYRIZA describes the negotiations as a sham. In a party statement the stress that “these negotiations with the Europeans are a charade. The government is in fact reciting its loyalty to its lenders. Its goal was and remains the resolute implementation of bailout commitments with no consideration for the social cost.”