EU Commission sees Greek primary surplus at 3.9 pct/GDP in 2018

Greece's primary surplus is likely to rise to 3.9 percent of GDP, beating a target of 3.5 percent, next year when the country is to exit the latest eurozone bailout programme and return to market financing, the European Commission forecast on Thursday.

In a regular forecast for all European Union economies, the Commission said that Greece would have a primary surplus - the budget balance before debt servicing costs - of 2.0 percent this year. The surplus is projected to be 3.7 percent in 2019.

The Commission also forecast that Greek public debt, the highest in the European Union, would fall rapidly over the next two years to 170.1 percent of GDP in 2019 from 179.6 expected this year.

The country will also start running a budget surplus of 0.9 percent next year in a sharp reversal of a budget deficit of 1.2 percent seen this year.  [Reuters]