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The European statistical office Eurostat announced the final figures for the Greek budget deficit for 2010 that exceeds the expected 9.6% by nearly one percent and reaches 10,5%. For comparison, the deficit for 2009, which is considered one of the most wasteful years of the Greeks, was 15.4%. In absolute terms, the deficit last year was 24.1 billion euros compared with 36.3 in 2009. According to the data, the public debt of the troubled Mediterranean economy is 330 billion or 142% of the gross domestic product. The GDP itself declined to 230.1 billion euros in 2010 from 235 billion in 2009.

So, Greece is ranked second in the European Union following Ireland with the biggest budget deficit and has the highest debt among the 27 member countries. The overall budget deficit of the euro area has decreased from 6.3% in 2009 to 6% for 2010, but the public debt has risen from 79.3% in 2009 to 85.1% of the GDP of the member states in 2010.

In response to the official Eurostat data, the Greek Ministry of Finance replied that it would follow the objectives of the Memorandum of financial support and not later than the 15^th of May it would present to parliament the medium term financial strategy, which would include all measures to be taken to rescue the Greek economy.

After the announcement of the official Eurostat data on the status of the Greek economy in 2010 the Greek spread yield marked a new historical record and reached 1205 bps. CDS insurances moved along with it, they jumped by 37 basis points and reached 1340 points.

Meanwhile, the nervous comments of politicians and markets on whether the Greek government debt would be haircut and when it would happen continue. "A debt restructuring would not help," said the manager of the Bank of Finland Erkki Liikanen. "A country of excessive debt like Greece needs to produce budget surpluses, debt restructuring will not change anything," said the Board member of the European Central Bank for Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.

Quite the opposite is the opinion of the Bloomberg’s representative Matthew Lynn, who recommends Greece to declare a 50% debt haircut still at the end of May and to stop paying the interest on the remainder of the debt for at least 3 years. He warns that it is better the lenders to lose between 30% and 50% of their money now than to lose 80% of their money in 2013.