The Commission's revised forecast for Greece in 2017 and 2018, translates into a loss of 1.1 billion euros this year and 900 million euros next year. The Commission revised its forecast for the Greek economy on Thursday, predicting GDP growth of 2.1 percent, as opposed to the previous figure of 2.7 percent.
By N. Bellos
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The Commission's revised forecast for Greece in 2017 and 2018, translates into a loss of 1.1 billion euros this year and 900 million euros next year. The Commission revised its forecast for the Greek economy on Thursday, predicting GDP growth of 2.1 percent, as opposed to the previous figure of 2.7 percent.
Likewise, Brussels lowered the forecast for 2018 to 2.6 percent, cut by 0.5 percent. Last winter's forecast by the Commission estimated that the economic recovery in the country would continue in 2018 at a rate of 3.1 percent, on a yearly basis.
The revisions are expected to affect other significant indexes, such as the debt-to-GDP ratio, employment, investments and fiscal targets.
At the same time, the Commission predicted that the Greek government's general budget deficit would hover at 1.2 percent in 2017 and 0.7 percent in 2018 (as a percentage of GDP).
Coming on the heels of continued delays in concluding the second review of the Greek program, the forecasts were worse, than those announced in February 2017.
In terms of Greece's debt, the forecast - if it proves accurate - would increase the debt by 1.5 percentage points, and by four percentage points in 2018, namely, 178.8 percent of GDP in 2017 and 174.6 percent of GDP in 2018.