Greek budget deficit grows despite cuts

Greece’s budget deficit has continued to grow in the first nine months of the year, despite government austerity measures adopted to cut spending and increasing revenue.

The finance ministry said in a statement on Wednesday that the central government’s deficit grew by 15 percent in the first nine months of 2011 compared with the same period last year, the Associated Press reported.

The January-September budget gap grew to 19.16 from 16.65 billion euros in the same period last year, according to finance ministry figures.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister George Papandreou has criticized the international community for not doing enough to tackle the global financial crisis

“The things that should have been on an institutional level have not been done, not on the G20 level or that of the G8 or the European Union,” said Papandreou, adding that Greece still had to put its own house in order.

Since last year, the European Union and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) have provided Greece with two rescue packages worth over USD 380 billion (283 billion euros) in return for the tough austerity measures adopted by Athens.

Greece must persuade both the EU and the IMF that it is making sufficient financial reforms. Otherwise, it will not receive the next USD 11 billion of bailout loans and will go bankrupt within weeks.