Spending to be Cut by $6.5 Billion by Greek Government

The Socialist government in Greece decided on Wednesday to cut budget expenditures by $6.5 billion.
Save
Spending to be Cut by $6.5 Billion by Greek Government
A pensioner tries to pass through a riot police cordon blocking the way to the prime minister's office in Athens on March 3, during a demonstration to protest against the government's austerity measures. (Louisa Gouliamaki/AFP/Getty Images)
3/3/2010
Updated:
10/1/2015

<a><img src="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/09/GREECE-97391194.jpg" alt="A pensioner tries to pass through a riot police cordon blocking the way to the prime minister's office in Athens on March 3, during a demonstration to protest against the government's austerity measures. (Louisa Gouliamaki/AFP/Getty Images)" title="A pensioner tries to pass through a riot police cordon blocking the way to the prime minister's office in Athens on March 3, during a demonstration to protest against the government's austerity measures. (Louisa Gouliamaki/AFP/Getty Images)" width="320" class="size-medium wp-image-1822454"/></a>
A pensioner tries to pass through a riot police cordon blocking the way to the prime minister's office in Athens on March 3, during a demonstration to protest against the government's austerity measures. (Louisa Gouliamaki/AFP/Getty Images)
The Socialist government in Greece decided on Wednesday to cut budget expenditures by $6.5 billion in a third subsequent attempt to tackle the huge state debt of $407 billion, revealed last November.

Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou announced tax increases by 20 percent for alcohol, 65 percent on cigarettes and 2 percent for Value Added Taxes, VAT which lands at 21 percent. Civil officials will have their holiday salaries curbed and pensions will be frozen.

This decision brought massive outrage from the unions and a wave of strikes. Now the Greek government is seeking financial aid from The European Union and warned that it would turn to the IMF if no eurozone member replies. According to France’s Finance Minister Christine Lagarde, Greece’s cuts exceeded those demanded by the EU and there was no need other EU countries to help.