Fiscal leeway leads to handouts

Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos on Thursday said he is planning to meet with Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras on Saturday to decide on the handouts the government will be announcing next week, in an effort to capitalize on the primary surplus overrun projected for this year, according to figures forwarded to the European Commission.

The midterm fiscal plan Athens has submitted to Brussels provides for a fiscal leeway of 0.6 percent of gross domestic product this year and between 0.4 and 1.1 percent in the next three years, allowing the government to announce handouts of 1 billion euros for this year, rising to almost 2 billion per year by 2022.
In total, over those four years, the excess revenues for the state are projected to reach 5.5 billion euros.

The plan, named "Stability Program," provides for a primary surplus of 4.1 percent of GDP - against a requirement...