Debt-stricken Greece said today it has made huge progress in restoring its finances to health in the six months to June, cutting its public deficit by some 46%, well ahead of target.
The finance ministry said the public deficit came to €9.65 billion, down from €17.87 billion in first half 2009.
The fall of 46% outpaced the target of 39.5% set by the government in order to slash the public deficit to 8.1% of GDP this year from nearly 14% in 2009.
Under EU rules, a member state is required to keep its public deficit - central government spending plus welfare and local authority expenditure - below 3% of GDP.
The data is preliminary and subject to revision and comes ahead of the planned sale of €1.25 billion in six-month bills, which is seen as a key market test of Athens' efforts to balance its books.
