Greek lawmakers to vote on new budget _ with more austerity

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greek lawmakers are debating the heavily-indebted country's draft budget for 2019, the first since Greece exited an eight-year bailout program.

The budget due to be voted on midnight Tuesday is still heavy on austerity measures to ensure the country registers a hefty budget surplus, in compliance with a debt relief deal with international creditors.

The budget submitted by the left-led government foresees Greece's battered economy will grow by 2.1 percent in 2018 and 2.5 percent in 2019. The debt load is set to decline from 180.4 percent of output this year to 167.8 percent next year.

Greece depended on bailout loans from 2010 until August 2018, and imposed crippling cutbacks to secure the money. Its finances are still subject to creditor scrutiny, albeit less intensely than before.