- Diego Iscaro, principal economist at IHS Global Insight
Bringing a ray of sunshine to the deeply-indebted Greece, the nation's government upgraded its growth outlook, saying the economy will exit the recession in 2014. During its six-year long downturn, the economy contracted by 23% and it became highly dependent on rescue loans from international lenders. In its draft of 2014 budget, the government made a forecast, expecting the economy to rise 0.6%. The final budget will be approved in November. Regarding this year, Greece GDP will shrink 4%. Country's deputy Finance Minister, Christos Staikouras also mentioned they expect a mild jobs growth and strong rebound in public finances, spurred by additional spending cuts, while avoiding implementation of new taxes. So far Greece has received 240 billion euros in loans from Troika, and in return, the economy has been strictly supervised and was forced to implement severe austerity measures. However, current budget prediction are supporting the case the economy is likely to start gaining momentum soon.
Also Monday, the European statistical office Eurostat said the 17-nation economy expanded in line with previous estimates in the second quarter, cementing expectation of final recovery. The economy picked up 0.3% in the April-June period from a quarter earlier, while on an annual basis the economy output still contracted by 0.6%.
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