ATHENS (Reuters) - Greece's general government deficit last year was smaller than first indicated, data from the country's statistics service under new European accounting rules showed on Monday.
Statistics service ELSTAT said the deficit - excluding money spent propping up banks battered by the country's debt crisis - was 1.8 percent of gross domestic product.
That was broadly in line with the estimate of 1.9 percent included in the 2015 draft budget, and down from the previously published figure of 2.1 percent.
Including state support to banks, the deficit stood at 12.2 percent, down from an initial 12.7 percent.
Greece has been bailed out by two aid packages worth 240 billion euros (189.13 billion pounds) from the European Union and the International Monetary Fund. Prime Minister Antonis Samaras comfortably won a confidence vote on Friday aimed at rallying support for a plan to abandon the aid programme.
Athens expects to shrink the general government deficit to 0.8 percent of GDP this year and 0.2 percent in 2015.
ELSTAT released revised data on GDP last week that showed a milder 3.3 percent recession in Greece last year compared to a previously estimated 3.9 percent.
(Reporting by George Georgiopoulos and Lefteris Papadimas, editing by John Stonestreet)