Greece revises growth down

Athens: Greece revised down its data for gross domestic product for the first three quarters of 2009, indicating the recession was deeper than earlier thought.

The revisions could push up the figure for Greece’s budget gap last year, economist Giada Giani at Citigroup Global Markets in London said.

The deficit-to-GDP ratio may rise 0.1 percentage point to 12.8% and the debt ratio may increase 1.2 percentage points to 114.6%, she said.

Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou more than tripled the 2009 deficit forecast to 12.7% after his election in October. Greek officials last month pledged to provide more reliable statistics after the European Union complained of “severe irregularities” in the nation’s economic figures.