Greek budget foresees slight economic growth as €3 billion in austerity cuts approved

Greece's parliament had approved a budget plan on Saturday that is set to include more than €3 of austerity cuts.

Branding the budget as "historic", Prime Minister Antonis Samaras told parliament that the new budget would see the country project a slight economic growth after six years of recession.

After nearly going bankrupt and almost crashing out of the euro zone last year, Greece expects growth of 0.6% in 2014 and hopes to secure more leeway on its debts to the European Union and the International Monetary Fund.

"People's sacrifices bore fruit and changed the course of the country," Samaras said.

Meanwhile, outside parliament, an anti-austerity rally organised by the country's largest labour unions drew only a few hundreds, a far cry of the former demonstrations in which tens of thousands demonstrated against cuts.

In 2013, the debt-laden country posted a surplus of €812 million thanks to higher-than-expected tax revenues. Coupled with the projected economic growth, the surplus opens the way for Greece to pursue debt relief from the EU and the International Monetary Fund.

However, Athens and its lenders disagree on the forecasts for 2014, arguing over the size of a potential budget gap next year and the slow pace of reforms.

International lenders have not given their approval for the plan, which sticks to a target for a primary budget surplus of about 1.5% of GDP next year, and have said that unless it found new savings, Athens would miss its surplus target by about €2bn.

This has been dismissed by Greece's finance minister, Yannis Stournaras, who said the difference has narrowed to about €1 billion.