Greece is saying its budget deficit in the first half of the year was 12.3B euros compared to 14.9B last year.
- Growth is falling so increased revenues don’t make much sense.
- Higher taxes only work if people pay them
- Greece is notorious for lackluster tax collection during elections and they had two elections in H1
- Hiring numbers showed very few government layoffs
Until proven otherwise, I’m inclined to believe this is due to some asset sales, deferred payments or other accounting tricks designed to trick the Troika into disbursing a few more payments before it all comes crashing down.
