The Minister of Finance, Christos Staikouras, asked not to create inflationary expectations, pointing out that inflation may be around 3% in October (“higher than we expected”, he said) but the phenomenon seems temporary and in this direction they must work and businesses.
Speaking to ERT1, the minister said that the phenomenon is international and exogenous and sharper than the initial estimates, however it seems temporary. He estimated that inflationary pressures will begin to decrease from the beginning of 2022 in almost all products, with the exception of energy where the de-escalation will be seen from the second quarter.
Mr. Staikouras also stated that the normalcy of the economy has returned significantly and made special reference to the increase of household disposable income – mainly due to tax cuts – and to the simultaneous increase of their deposits in banks this year.
He said that precision “eats” a part of the disposable income, adding that “for this we try with targeted measures to cover the losses and to strengthen it more”.
Asked about additional aid measures, he replied that the cash amounts to about 39 billion euros and what was spent in the last two years due to the pandemic (about 40 billion euros) was drawn from international markets. He added, however, that the budget allocated for the fires (500m euros) and to cover part of the energy costs (500m euros) limit the possibilities for any other intervention. He clarified, however, that “what we said at the TIF is valid and will be reflected in the budget” and left open the possibility for next year, saying that “we will see what will be the effect of the best image of 2021 (in terms of development ) in 2022 “.
Finally, he announced for the next period, in the context of the strengthening of electronic transactions, the announcement of incentives for the collection of receipts from a number of professions, which will count twice as much in tax exemptions.
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