ATHENS, April 23 (Xinhua) -- Greece reported on Monday a better-than-expected primary budget surplus of 1.9 percent of its gross domestic product (GDP) last year.
Its primary surplus in 2023 totaled 4.01 billion euros (4.29 billion U.S. dollars), according to the Hellenic Statistical Authority (ELSTAT).
"The achievement of significant fiscal surpluses over a long period of time strengthens the society's capacity to address future crises," Panagiotis Petrakis, professor of economics at University of Athens told Xinhua on Tuesday.
This demonstrated a change in the social and administrative culture of managing such critical issues, he said.
Based on ELSTAT data, Greece's GDP increased to 220.3 billion euros last year, compared to 206.6 million billion euros in 2022 and 181.5 billion euros in 2021.
"Those fiscal figures are attributed to inflation (income increase) and substantial reduction of the shadow economy -- from 21 percent to 17 percent of GDP," he added.
Greece's debt recorded the fastest decrease of 10.8 percent in a year, falling from 172.7 percent of GDP in 2022 to 161.9 percent of GDP in 2023. In absolute numbers, the debt saw a slight dip to 356.7 billion euros by the end of last year, down from 356.8 billion euros in 2022. (1 euro = 1.07 U.S. dollar) ■