A primary deficit needs to be financed by further borrowing.
But the hard truth is that a primary deficit, however small, is not good enough.
A primary deficit or surplus excludes debt service and some other costs.
The deficit before interest payments, the so-called primary deficit, was 8.5 percent of G.D.P.
It aims to cut the primary deficit, which excludes interest payments, to zero by 2010.
But a collapse in house prices meant that its primary deficit actually worsened.
The first column shows each country's primary deficit or surplus adjusted for the economic cycle.
In Germany, the eurozone's primary deficit hawk, the government department taking the steepest hit will suffer an 8% cut.
That is well above the primary deficit of 3.5 percent that the European Commission predicts next year for Spain.
He notes, however, that France has eliminated its structural primary deficit mainly by raising taxes rather than by cutting spending.
First, it has to stop running a so-called primary deficit, or the deficit before interest payments.
