Greece is expected to record a 3.1% deficit in 2016, according to the European Commission’s summer forecasts on the Eurozone member state economies. The Commission’s figures on growth of the Greek economy are slightly better, as it projects a 0.3% negative growth rate of GDP in 2016, revised from 0.7% it perviously predicted. The Greek economy is forecast to return to growth in 2017 at 2.7% of GDP. The country’s public deficit is expected to be -1.8% of GDP in 2016, compared to -7.2% last year and -1.8% in 2017, marginally better than the Commission’s winter forecasts. Greece’s public debt is estimated to stand at 182.8% of GDP in 2016 compared to 176.9% in 2015 and is predicted to start falling in 2018 to 178.8%. Greece’s unemployment rate is estimated to be 24.7% in 2016, a 0.2% drop from 2015, while it is projected to fall to 23.6% in 2017. The Eurozone as a whole will see a marginal drop in growth to 1.6% in 2016, compared to 1.7% in 2015, and 1.8% in 2017, while the growth rate for the EU is forecast to stand at 1.8% in 2016 and 1.9% in 2017.