The country's economy is in deep recession and it is running a primary budget deficit (ie, before interest payments).

这个国家的经济已经进入了严重的衰退，出现基本预算赤字（非利息赤字）。

youdao

It assumes that Greece could sustain a brutal reduction in its primary budget deficit (ie, excluding interest costs) of 12 percentage points.

这个分析假定希腊能够经受将基本预算赤字(包括利息成本)大幅削减12%。

youdao

Its net debt is bigger as a share of GDP and it has a primary budget deficit (ie, before interest payments), whereas Italy has a surplus.

它的负债净额在GDP中占了很大的比例，还有最初预算赤字(比如，付息前)，而意大利则有盈余。

youdao

For all his talk of "listening to the Greeks", Tsipras neglects to mention leaving the euro would require even more draconian austerity because Greece would have to close its primary budget deficit overnight.

CNN: Opinion: Greeks prefer Europe to its own politicians

What matters here is not the total budget deficit but the primary one.

FORBES: The Real Greek Solution: Democracy

Both plans aim to improve the primary deficit, with President Obama nearly balancing the budget by the end of the time-window (2022).

FORBES: Fiscal Cliff Should Help Obama And Paul Ryan Find Common Ground On Budget