New Greek Financial Assistance Approved

The declaration marks the fourth anniversary of the nation's official bailout request. Deputy Finance Minister Christos Staikouras commented, "The country and its economy are in a much better position now, after very tough years for households and businesses".

Last year's surplus arrived one year prior to Greece's bailout timeline. Eurozone governments who currently contain over 80% of the Hellenic state's 319 billion euro public debt, will now offer supplementary monetary relief.

The Greek capital's primary surplus was 0.8% of its 2013 GDP, at 1.5 billion euros, as confirmed by the Greek government and the European Commission. However, these figures don't include debt servicing costs, revenue items and one-off spending. European Commission spokesman Simon O'Connor stated, that the EU institution plans to conduct Greek debt relief discussions in the second half of 2014.

Currently, the IMF and EU have granted Greece 218 billion euros of bailout loans in the last four years; the nation will receive an additional 19 billion euros by 2014's end. The goals of the international financial assistance are: the finalization of IMF lending by 2016; Greece's debt-to-GDP ratio of 124% by 2020 and one below 110% by 2022.