ATHENS, Sept 1 (AFP) - The Greek state statistics service (EYSE) has raised its estimate for the country's public deficit in 2003 after taking into account the price of the Athens Summer Olympics, the quasi-state news agency ANA said Wednesday.
ESYE now estimates the 2003 deficit at 4.6 percent of gross domestic product, sharply higher than the 3.2 percent initially forecast, while this year's shortfall would come to 5.3 percent of GDP, the news agency said.
The figures include spending for the Olympics, whose budget had been 4.6 billion euros (5.6 billion dollars). The bill was expected to exceed seven billion euros, including 1.2 billion for security, ANA said.
ESYE is supposed to submit the data next week to officials of the European Union's statistics office Eurostat, who are due to arrive in Athens to verify the country's accounts.
In early July EU finance ministers decided to launch excessive deficit procedures against Greece and issued warnings to six new members of the 25-state bloc -- Cyprus, Czech Republic, Hungary, Malta, Poland and Slovakia -- for breaching the EU deficit limit of 3.0 percent of GDP.
The European Commission pressed Greece, a member of the 12-state eurozone, to rein in its deficit below the limit prescribed in the EU's Stability and Growth Pact by 2005.
The EU set a deadline of November 5 for the Greek government to take the necessary measures to meet that objective.