EU: Greek 2006-09 deficit, debt data to be revised up

Brussels, 6 October 2010 (MIA) - Greek budget deficit and public debt figures will be revised up for 2006-2009, following audits of the crisis-hit country by the European Union's statistical office, the European Commission said on Wednesday.

"Whether it will be a large increase or moderate one, I cannot say. There will be a clear upward revision," Commission spokesman Amadeu Altafaj told a daily news briefing.

The EU and the International Monetary Fund agreed to a 110 billion euro bailout plan for Greece in May after its ballooning budget deficit brought the euro zone to the brink of a sovereign debt crisis.

A senior Greek official said the impact of the revision on this year's budget deficit would be small.

Greece aims to slash this year's budget deficit to 7.8 percent of gross domestic product from 13.8 percent in 2009, based on its draft 2011 budget unveiled on Monday.

Next year it wants to shrink the budget hole to 7.0 percent, below a 7.6 percent target under an IMF/EU bailout plan.

Altafaj said it was too early to discuss the implications of the revisions for this year's fiscal gap.

He added that the revision of the Greek figures would come this month after several probes by Eurostat. The statistical office's powers were beefed up this year after Greece effectively admitted it had provided faulty statistics.

"In April 2010, Eurostat expressed reservations about the quality of data reported by Greece. Since then Eurostat has undertaken several investigations," he said.

Altafaj said some doubts remained after the probes, so EU Monetary Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn had ordered the expansion of Eurostat's team in Greece.

"Commissioner Rehn instructed Eurostat to reinforce its resources on the ground in Greece for the urgent task of clarifying Greek national accounts. No stone should be left unturned," Altafaj said.

Asked whether the terms of the IMF/EU bailout could be changed due to the planned revision, Altafaj said: "It would be premature to talk about implications.