Forex berza

Greece's general government deficit totaled EUR 14.2 billion during the period of January to August, the Ministry of Finance said Friday.

The ministry is publishing the first time monthly data on the general government deficit and arrears for the January to August 2010 period. This data will be updated and published on a monthly basis to improve transparency and monitoring of fiscal developments, the ministry added.

"None of these data have been adjusted to the European System of Accounts (ESA 95) and as such are not strictly comparable with the annual fiscal targets of the Economic Policy Programme," the ministry said.

Today, the statistical office of the European Union, Eurostat postponed the publication of government deficit figures for Greece to mid November as it is undertaking a process of quality assessment of statistical source data from public accounts, in cooperation with the Greek Statistical Office and the Greek Court of Auditors.

Greece's budget deficit was 13.6% of the GDP in 2009, according to the estimates of Eurostat, released in April. Greece had to go the European Union and the International Monetary Fund for EUR 110 billion in aid after its borrowing costs rose to prohibitive levels in the summer.