Reuters
December 13, 2011
Greece's budget deficit continued to widen in November and the construction business kept shrinking as an austerity-fuelled recession hit both government revenues and economic activity, data showed on Tuesday.
The debt-choked country is struggling to implement the reforms required by its EU and IMF lenders in exchange for loans and to cope with the impact of austerity on its economy, putting its capacity to meet targets once more at risk.
The budget gap of the central government widened 5.1 percent year-on-year to 20.52 billion euros ($27.1 billion) in the first 11 months of the year, the finance ministry said, while the debt-choked country had to pay a higher price to sell T-bills.
This means that Greece will likely miss its 2011 deficit targets and may need additional austerity measures to catch up with its budget goals in 2012, in what is forecast to be its fifth consecutive year of recession.
The economy is seen shrinking by at least 5.5 percent and bleak construction data showed on Tuesday that a deep slump continued in what used to be a key driver of the country's growth when it joined the euro and organized the 2004 Olympics.
Building activity by volume contracted 37.8 percent in the first eight months of the year while the number of new building permits dropped by 30.6 percent.
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