ATHENS (AFP) - The Greek government acknowledged that the country's annual public deficit estimates from 2000 to 2002 had been sharply underestimated, a revelation described by the European Central Bank head as "an enormous problem".
Economy Minister George Alogoskufis told parliament that the shortfall came to 4.1 percent of output in 2000 rather than the two percent announced at the time.
While the deficits in 2001 and 2002 were put at 1.4 percent in the two years, they in fact had come to 3.7 percent, he added.
The revised figures are well in excess of the 3.0-percent public deficit ceiling imposed on eurozone members.
The figures were revised upwards following an audit of public finances ordered by the conservative government after it replaced a Socialist administration last March, the minister told parliament.
But government spokesman Theodore Russopulos stressed that the change would not call into question Greece's adhesion to the eurozone in 2001. Eurozone candidates are obliged to show that they have reined in public spending before they can qualify for membership.
"We took over a difficult economic situation and we will succeed" in turning it around, he told a press conference.
Earlier Wednesday, European Central Bank president Jean-Claude Trichet described the revision to the Greek deficit as "an enormous problem".
He told the monetary and economic affairs committee of the European Parliament: "It's a real problem, an enormous problem.
"We must be assured that the statistics furnished are exact and pertinent."
Alogoskufis, the economy minister, said the revisions reflected a lower estimate of income from social insurance administrations and a "precise" ananlysis of defense spending, some of which did not figure in previous budgets.
Russopulos added that the previous Socialist government had not included an order, issued in 2003, for 45 war planes for the Greek air force.
The three percent public deficit limit is stipulated in the European Union's 1997 Stability and Growth Pact, which underpins the euro, and refers to accounts covering national, regional and social welfare spending.