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"Where are we going to find 14,300,000,000 euros?" wonders Ta Nea, in the wake of the government’s presentation of the 2011 budget. As well as targeting "a deficit reduction of 5 billion euros that will cut the budget gap to 17 billion euros" (7.5% of GDP), the daily notes that the budget plan includes 14 billion euros of cuts to public spending. The "new measures are designed to reassure the “troika” mission of officials from the European Commission, the ECB, and the IMF who are currently in Athens" to evaluate the implementation of the austerity package. "The budget is likely to impress," adds Ta Nea, "because the cuts exceed the 8.2 billion euros demanded by the IMF and the EU." The newspaper points out that "much of the burden will be borne by public companies, which will have to shed 10,000 jobs." Other measures include "an increase in VAT which is set to rise from 11% to 13% on certain products, and an extensive programme of privatisations."
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