Intanto, il punto sulla situazione greca è questo... la revisione finale potrebbe portare dal 13,6% attuale al 13,9% - 14,1%...
La Grecia ha bluffato sui dati fino all'ultimo, facendosi lo sconto sul deficit/PIL
DJ Greek Deficit 13.6% Of GDP In 2009
22.04.10 10:10:08
LONDON -- The European Union's official statistics agency Thursday said the
Greek budget deficit in 2009 was higher than the government had estimated, and
added that it has reservations about the accuracy of Greek budget data that may
lead to further upward revisions.
In the first of its twice-yearly reviews of government finances in the
27-member bloc, Eurostat said the Greek government's budget deficit was 13.6%
of gross domestic product last year.
The Greek government had estimated the deficit was 12.7% of GDP in 2009,
although it has acknowledged that Eurostat's estimate may be higher because of
differences in the way it accounts for surpluses in the state-run pension fund.
Eurostat repeated its reservations about the quality of Greek budget figures,
highlighting swaps entered into by the government, uncertainties about the size
of the surplus on social security funds, and on "the classification of some
public entities."
Eurostat said the accurate recording of these items could lead to the deficit
being revised to between 13.9% and 14.1% of GDP.
"Following completion of the investigations that Eurostat is undertaking on
these issues in cooperation with the Greek Statistical Authorities, this could
lead to a revision for the year 2009 of the order of 0.3 to 0.5 percentage
points of GDP for the deficit," Eurostat said.
Eurostat said the government's stock of debt as a proportion of GDP may be
raised to between 120.1% and 122.2% from its current estimate of 115.1%.
The cost of insuring Greece's sovereign debt against default using credit
default swaps hit a fresh high again Thursday, as Greek five-year sovereign CDS
rose above 500 basis points for the first time.
A team from the EU and the International Monetary Fund arrived in Greece
Wednesday to negotiate the terms and conditions of a EUR45 billion bailout
package for the government, should it be unable to repay its debts.
But investors are becoming increasingly concerned that a rescheduling of those
debts might be needed to make Greece's public finances manageable.
Greece's financial crisis was triggered by the revelation in October last year
that its 2009 deficit would likely be twice the original estimate. It was not
the first time that Greek deficit figures had proved unreliable.
Eurostat said the euro zone's combined deficit hit a record high of 6.3% of
GDP in 2009, up from 2.0% in 2008. That reflects both a rise in government debt
as tax revenues declined and social welfare spending increased, as well as
contractions in many economies.
Greece was not the euro-zone member with the highest deficit, however. That
dubious honor went to Ireland, with a fiscal gap of 14.3% of GDP, while Spain
had a budget deficit of 11.2% of GDP and Portugal a budget deficit of 9.4% of
GDP.
Outside the euro zone, the U.K. had the largest deficit, amounting to 11.5% of
its GDP.