The government today is tabling in parliament he 2018 state budget, which aims for a primary surplus that exceeds the target in the previous draft budget.
The budget will be debated in parliamentary committees beginning 23 November, and it is to be passed at midnight on Friday, 22 December, following the customary three-day debate.
The budget projects a hefty 3.8 percent primary surplus for 2018, which exceeds the 3.5 percent to which the government had agreed with creditors.
The earlier draft budget, which was revised, provided for a primary surplus of 3.57 percent of GDP.
The key and precondition for reaching the 3.8 percent primary surplus target is reaching the projected growth rate of 2.4 to 2.5 percent of GDP, a steep rise over the 1.6 percent expected for the entire 2017 fiscal year.
The current target is expected to be achieved with new tax measures to be implemented over the next few years, which have been agreed to with creditors and already passed by parliament, as well as other measures recently passed, which will be implemented for the first time in 2018.
Wage earners, pensioners, and freelance professional are expected to bear the brunt of the hefty tax burden.
The clear revenues of the regular budget are expected to rise by 1.8 billion euros, or one percent of GDP.
In total, the net revenues for next year’s budget are expected to exceed 50.5 billion euros.
