Austria's government has agreed on an increased austerity package worth €27.9 billion ($36.6 billion) in tax increases and savings to balance the budget by 2016.
The text will be submitted on Thursday to parliament, which is expected to ratify the deal in its March 28-29 session.
The 2012-2016 package was first announced at €26.7 billion in mid-February but later renegotiated between the governing Social Democrats and conservative People's Party.
It foresees €17.3 billion in savings -- through cuts in the pension system, civil service, state-run companies like Austrian Rail (OeBB) and sector subsidies -- as well as 9.2 billion euros in increased tax revenues.
Changes in the social service system should also bring in €1.4 billion, bringing the total to €27.9 billion, according to the deal.
The 98-article package will be implemented in two stages, after President Heinz Fischer complained last month of the short deadline given to him to approve the text.
Tax increases will now come into force on April 1 as initially planned, while the bulk of the package will take effect on May 1.
The austerity package is intended to put Austria in line with European Union rules, which call for a 3.0-percent threshold on public deficits.
The government in Vienna hopes the package will bring the deficit down gradually every year -- starting with 3.0 percent this year from 3.3 percent in 2011 -- until it finally reaches a balanced budget in 2016.
In 2010, Austria's public deficit hit 4.4 percent of gross domestic product, according to Eurostat data.
Vienna then lost its triple-A credit rating with Standard & Poor's in January on worries about the eurozone crisis and concerns -- dismissed as exaggerated in the small alpine state -- about the exposure of Austrian banks to Hungary and Italy.
Social Democrat Chancellor Werner Faymann explained that the strict cuts were "without alternative," while conservative Deputy Chancellor Michael Spindelegger spoke of the "greatest package" ever agreed by the government.
He nevertheless acknowledged it would hit some people hard.
"It's a bitter pill for many but it is also required for us to get well again," said Spindelegger.