Summary Greece has been engaged in a brutal austerity drive since it nearly went bankrupt in 2010.
ATHENS (AP) - Greece s statistical authority says last year s budget deficit was slightly higher than initially calculated, citing revisions to the cost of supporting the country s banks.
The 2012 deficit is now estimated at 6.2 percent of annual output, from the initially reported 6 percent, the authority said Friday. That s still better than the initial target of 6.6 percent.
The conservative-led government says it will reduce the deficit this year to 2.4 percent of GDP, where it is forecast to settle next year, too.
Greece has been engaged in a brutal austerity drive since it nearly went bankrupt in 2010 after drastically revising up its deficit, to 15.8 percent from an initial estimate of below 4 percent. For more than three years, the country has been kept afloat by international bailouts.
