EU: Greece to hit deficit goal with current pledges

Greece is on track to meet its 2010 budget deficit reduction target and will reach it if the country sticks to its current commitment to keep budget spending 4 bln euros below plan, the European Commission said.
"We are not asking Greece to make additional spending cuts," Commission spokesman Amadeu Altafaj said on Friday, clarifying the conclusions of a Commission communication to EU finance ministers.
The communication said Greece would meet the 2010 deficit target of 8% of GDP if it maintained very tight expenditure control "leading to total state expenditure of 4 bln euros below plans to offset revenue shortfall and expenditure slippages in other government sectors". Altafaj clarified that the 4 bln euros in additional savings were already an existing commitment by the Greek government, and that the government had already overperformed on that commitment in the first six months of this year.
"The ceiling for current cash spending in 2010 stands at 67 bln euros," Altafaj said, adding that actual cash spending should not exceed 64 bln euros for the overall 2010 deficit target to be met.
In the January-June period, primary budget spending was already 5.6 bln euros lower than plan, a Commission report on Greek reforms, released on Friday, showed.
"Should this overperformance continue in the following months, current spending will overperform on an annual basis, by some 4 bln, without additional measures," Altafaj said.
"The authorities however, should stand ready for possible cuts, in case significant revenue shortfalls occur," he added.