The creditors of Greece approved the 2017 budget, which is expected to be submitted to parliament today, Monday, despite their initial reservations about its implementation. According to sources, the crisis stricken county’s lenders were swayed by the 3.2 billion-euro surplus achieved through hyper taxation in 2016, as well as provisions included in the new budget for additional sweeping taxes that are projected to bring in revenue amounting to 2.5 billion euros. The Greek government raised the bar set in the terms in the bailout program, which provided for a 1.75% (3.05 billion euros) GDP surplus, projecting it would reach a 3.2 billion-euro surplus. The Greek Finance Ministry exceeded the agreed forecasts in the memorandum in the hope that it would avoid having to effect the automatic “cutter” in the event Eurostat teroactively disputed the veracity of the GDP surplus. The budget projects a 2.7% growth rate in 2017, a target seen as over optimistic by many economic experts. According to the new budget, state spending will be cut by 1.3-1.5 billion euros, while the estimated 2.5 billion-euro hikes in taxes will amount to an aggregate of 4 billion euros in austerity measures in 2017. Some of the measures included in the 2017 budget, which is scheduled to have been voted by December 10, include:

-the new income tax scale, which will is estimated to bring in nearly 1 billion euros,

-the VAT rise to 24% worth 437 million euros,

-the new special solidarity contribution worth 730 million,

-the rise of the special fuel consumption tax worth 422 million,

-the increase in cigarette taxes worth 142 million, and the coffee tax worth 62 million,

-the fixed telephony rates worth 54.2million,

-and the cable TV rates worth 25 million