Eurostat: Greece 2012 deficit revised down, Ireland up

Greece's budget deficit was smaller by 1% of GDP last year than earlier thought, the European Union's statistics office Eurostat revised data showed, while Ireland's gap was bigger than originally reported in April.

Deficit in debt-troubled Greece, on route to exit six years of recession next year and reach primary surplus this year, was 9.0% of GDP, down from the previously reported 10.0% and down from 9.5% in 2011.

The revision came as a result of updated to deficit figures and not because of a bigger impact of economic growth, Eurostat said.

Ireland, expected to successfully conclude and exit an international financial aid programme by the end of the year, had a deficit of 8.2% last year, compared with 7.6% reported in April.

It was, however, well below the revised 13.1% gap in 2011.

The 17 countries sharing the euro have made fiscal consolidation their top priority, not just for countries receiving external help – Greece, Portugal, Ireland, Cyprus and Spain – in order to help restore investor confidence in the 9.5 trln euro economy.

The euro zone as a whole had a budget deficit of 3.7% in 2012, down from 6.4% in 2009, but its debt rose to 8.6 trln euros in 2012, or 90.6% of GDP, from 7.1 trln euros or 80% in 2009, Eurostat said.

The single currency area returned to modest growth of 0.3% quarter-on-quarter in the second quarter of this year after contracting in the previous 18 months, but the nascent recovery remains uneven as the southern periphery countries undergo a painful structural change.