Greek Parliament approves 2018’s budget

Greek lawmakers approved 2018’s budget with 153 votes in favour and 144 against at the end of a five-day debate in parliament.

The final version includes higher primary surplus projections, both for 2017 (2.44% of GDP vs 2.21% included in the first draft submitted in October, even after accounting for a now-voted 0.8%-of-GDP ‘fiscal rebate’, easily beating a 1.75% program target) and 2018 (3.82%-of-GDP, higher than a 3.57% earlier estimate and a 3.5% program target).