Finance Minister Giorgos Alogoskoufis said yesterday that next year’s state budget will not hold any surprises as the economy continues to grow at a strong pace.

After a meeting with Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis, Alogoskoufis said that the messages from the economy are positive and that unemployment is steadily heading downward.

The finance minister presented to Karamanlis the basic outline of next year’s budget which is expected to be consistent with this year’s tight fiscal policy.

In an interview with Reuters on Wednesday, Alogoskoufis said that he is confident that the budget deficit in 2007 will remain below the 3 percent limit allowed by the European Union, at 2.3 percent of gross domestic product.