GREECE WILL improve its deficit-cutting plan following an EU inspection visit and is confident it will be endorsed by Brussels, Greek finance minister George Papaconstantinou said yesterday.

Hard pressed by markets and EU peers to bring its strained public finances under control, Greece is drafting a stability plan under which it would trim its deficit to 3 per cent of gross domestic product in three years.

“The draft will certainly be improved as a result of the visit and the discussions,” Mr Papaconstantinou said. “The visit reinforced the sense the government is moving in the right direction.”

Speaking after the end of the three-day inspection by EU officials, he said Greece was working closely with the EU to make sure the stability plan is approved by Brussels in February.

“We had very constructive discussions on the details of the stability and growth plan. The commission is interested in the quantification of measures . . . in the medium-term impact of reforms. There was already quantification of reforms and more will be added in the following days,” he said.

The plan, which will be submitted to the EU, sees the Greek economy returning to growth next year. Greece fell into its first recession in 16 years in 2009.

“After a stagnation in 2010, the stability and growth plan projects GDP growth of over 1 per cent in 2011, growing to over 2 per cent by 2013,” Mr Papaconstantinou said.

Greece is set to become the euro zone’s most indebted member this year, with debt estimated at more than 120 per cent of GDP. “The debt to GDP ratio will start declining in 2012,” Mr Papaconstantinou said.

The new socialist government revealed after winning an October election that the budget deficit would rise to 12.7 per cent of GDP in 2009, more than twice the estimate of the defeated conservatives. – ( Reuters)