FinMin, Troika Wrap up Meeting Focusing on 2015 Draft Budget

Greece's finance ministry leadership and the troika representing Greece's international creditors have agreed on an outline of the draft budget for 2015 that forecasts a primary surplus "very close to 3 pct of GDP", a senior finance ministry source reported after the end of a meeting on Saturday.

The source said the target will only be marginally lower than the original memorandum target of 3 pct and without any additional measures. It will include tax cuts announced by the prime minister at the Thessaloniki International Fair (TIF), as well as sums for restoring salaries in the military starting in the current year. The full plan for the country's military personnel will be outlined in detail in the final version of the draft budget.

The troika expressed "neither agreement or disagreement" with the figures of the outline and will continue to monitor everything until the final text of the draft budget is unveiled, the source added. He noted, however, that in recent years Greece has a good record in terms of its forecasts on financial figures and these cannot be strongly disputed by the representatives of its international lenders.

The source also pointed out that the draft budget outline includes "upward and downward risks" that may or may not be confirmed in the final version to be tabled in Parliament on Monday.