ATHENS, Greece: Greece has beaten its bailout budget targets for a third successive year and eased its massive debt burden by a fraction as the country prepares to exit its international rescue program in four months.
The country’s independent statistics agency on Monday reported long-awaited data for 2017 that will affect ongoing negotiations between Athens and creditors on the terms of Greece’s exit.
The agency reported that the 2017 primary budget surplus — the balance before debt repayment is included— stood at 4 percent, while the national debt stood at 178.6 percent of gross domestic product, down from 180.8 the previous year.
Economic output was 177.7 billion euros ($218 billion), confirming a return to growth, but still almost a billion euros lower that annual output in 2014.
Greece beats its budget target for 3rd year, debt edges down
Greece beats its budget target for 3rd year, debt edges down
Work suspended on Riyadh’s massive Mukaab megaproject: Reuters
RIYADH: Saudi Arabia has suspended planned construction of a colossal cube-shaped skyscraper at the center of a downtown development in Riyadh while it reassesses the project's financing and feasibility, four people familiar with the matter said.
The Mukaab was planned as a 400-meter by 400-meter metal cube containing a dome with an AI-powered display, the largest on the planet, that visitors could observe from a more than 300-meter-tall ziggurat — or terraced structure —inside it.
Its future is now unclear, with work beyond soil excavation and pilings suspended, three of the people said. Development of the surrounding real estate is set to continue, five people familiar with the plans said.
The sources include people familiar with the project's development and people privy to internal deliberations at the PIF.
Officials from PIF, the Saudi government and the New Murabba project did not respond to Reuters requests for comment.
Real estate consultancy Knight Frank estimated the New Murabba district would cost about $50 billion — roughly equivalent to Jordan’s GDP — with projects commissioned so far valued at around $100 million.
Initial plans for the New Murabba district called for completion by 2030. It is now slated to be completed by 2040.
The development was intended to house 104,000 residential units and add SR180 billion to the Kingdom’s GDP, creating 334,000 direct and indirect jobs by 2030, the government had estimated previously.
(With Reuters)
