Christos Staikouras

Addressing Parliament on Friday ahead of a confidence vote in the government, Deputy Finance Minister Giorgos Mavraganis heralded the continued lowering of tax rates, saying the government intended to broaden tax relief "in a programmed and decisive way."

Greek bonds saw their yields climb as the government announced it plans to improve its yield curve with sales of seven- and 10-year government debt, according to the 2015 draft budget presented on Monday by Alternate Finance Minister Christos Staikouras.

Greek 10-year yields increased nine basis points to 6.44 percent and the 30-year rate climbed seven basis points to 7.06 percent.

Greece will report a primary budget surplus of 2 percent of national output this year, beating the 1.5 percent of GDP target set in its EU/IMF bailout, the government's draft 2015 budget projected on Monday.

Athens also predicted its economy would exit a six-year recession and grow 0.6 percent this year, in line with previous forecasts.

 Primary surplus goal for 2015 will not be as low as reported, according to Finance Ministry official

The head of Greece’s statistical service and the Finance Ministry traded accusations on Thursday about who was to blame for Greece being behind schedule in supplying the European Commission with detailed figures regarding its public finances dating back to 1995.

A review of all the pensions being issued by the Greek state which started two years ago in a bid to weed out false claims has resulted in savings of 42.2 million euros, Alternate Finance Minister Christos Staikouras said on Tuesday while presenting the findings of a General Accounting Office census which highlighted hundreds of cases of people claiming the pensions of their dead relatives.

A review of the pensions being paid out by the Greek state and new, stricter rules governing pension registrations have led to savings of a total of 42 million euros in the past two years, Alternate Finance Minister Christos Staikouras said on Tuesday.

Greece recorded a primary surplus of 1.95 billion euros in the first eight months of the year, ahead of a projected target of 962 million euros, Alternate Finance Minister Christos Staikouras said on Friday, noting however that revenues had dwindled slightly due to the postponement of the collection of the first installment of the new unified property tax (ENFIA).

 Education, Administrative Reform ministry sources say pledges will be honored

Government officials on Thursday sought to play down a rift between Education Minister Andreas Loverdos and Administrative Development Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis over the possible firing of administrative staff at universities as part of a civil service overhaul demanded by the troika.

 Greek ministers will be looking at timetables, actions and taxes with troika officials at start of September

The Greek government has begun finalizing its negotiating strategy for the imminent talks with troika officials in Paris, setting four clear priorities for the September meeting.