Ambitious budget eyes surplus 
 
 Venizelos unveils final draft, with no new tax measures and recession at 2.8 pct
    
     Aiming at a primary surplus for the first time after a number of  years, the final draft of the 2012 budget reached Parliament on Friday,  including a provision for additional tax revenues of 3.6 billion euros.
Presenting  the draft to the press after securing Cabinet’s approval on Friday,  Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos said the budget constitutes a  “window of opportunity,” stressing that for the first time it does not  come with new tax measures.
“This is a budget for turning things  around in the country, and with the proper management it will have a  surplus for the first time,” said Venizelos in the presence of Prime  Minister Lucas Papademos.
The new budget provides for a decrease  in Greece’s deficit from about 9 percent this year to 5.4 percent in  2012, partly owing to the eurozone agreement last month to reduce the  country’s debt, and partly thanks to the fruit that the midterm fiscal  plan is expected to bear. Therefore, the deficit is projected to come to  11.427 billion euros next year from 19.683 billion this year.
The  primary surplus forecast amounts to 2.18 billion euros, or 1 percent of  gross domestic product, against a primary deficit of 4.583 billion  euros (2.1 percent of GDP) this year.
Public debt will see a  significant reduction, as it is expected to 
drop to 145.5 percent of  GDP, from 161.7 percent this year, reversing its rising course to date.  It will amount to 309.3 billion euros in 2012, from 352.05 billion in  2011. Crucially, 
payment for interest will go down by 3.63 billion euros  to 12.75 billion. Tax revenues will increase next year by 7.1 percent  to reach 53.3 billion euros, up from 49.7 billion in 2011.
As for  the fundamental figures of the economy, the budget expects a significant  improvement in 2012, although the country will be in recession for a  fifth year in a row.
 GDP will contract by 2.8 percent, from 5.5 percent  this year, and inflation will drop to 0.6 percent, from 2.8 percent in  2011. However, 
unemployment will climb to 17.1 percent, from 15.4  percent in the current year.
The introductory report to the draft  budget stresses that the fiscal policy for next year relies on five main  pillars: The application of the midterm fiscal plan, the continuation  of the implementation of necessary structural and institutional changes,  the improvement of the tax and social security systems, the  acceleration of privatizations and of the program for the utilization of  public real estate, and the further restructuring of the public sector  through merging and abolishing a number of bodies.
The plan for 2012 provides for revenues of 9.3 billion euros from privatizations.
The  draft budget will probably be voted by Parliament on December 7, as  Venizelos called on the speaker of the House to hold the vote before the  European Union summit meeting on December 8.