For the first time since the last quarter of 2009, when the acute debt crisis which hit Greece broke out, the Greek GDP grew in the first quarter of 2011 by 0.8 percent on a quarterly basis, announced Friday the Greek Statistics Office.
According to local analysts, the positive development is a sign that the ailing Greek economy starts slowly emerging from recession which deepened more than expected over the past few months.
According to the Greek Statistics Office latest data, in the first quarter of 2011 the Greek GDP contracted by 4.8 percent on an annual basis.
In the last quarter of 2010 the contraction reached 7.4 percent, upwards from the earlier estimations of 6.6 percent.
Greek economy shrank by 4.35 percent in 2010 upwards from 2.35 percent in 2009, according to the Greek Statistics Office.
According to the European Union's 2011 spring forecast, also released Friday, the Greek economy will shrink by 3.5 percent in 2011, due to the ongoing impact of last year's pressure. The initial forecast was a contraction of up to 3 percent for this year.
European officials support in the latest report the Greek government's confidence that figures will improve through the full and swift implementation of fiscal adjustment and structural reforms measures under way.
They warn that if more time will be wasted, the Greek budget deficit in 2011 will reach 9.5 percent of GDP upwards from the current target of 7.6 percent and the Greek state debt will increase to 157.7 percent of GDP, upwards from 145.2 percent, as estimated in the current plan to exit the crisis by 2014.
Greece narrowly avoided default last May by securing a 110- billion-euro (157.55 billion U.S. dollars) aid package from European Union and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in exchange for austerity and reform policies to slash the deficit and return to growth.
EU-IMF top officials are on a regular audit of Greek finances in Athens this week ahead of the release of the next tranche of aid by June and according to government sources they add pressure to Greek officials to speed up reforms to achieve the targets set./.