Greece reduced its debt ratio by 23.3% in 2022the newspaper writes Handelsblatt, pointing out that this is the best performance in the European Union. The decline, the paper says, is mainly due to the strong economic growth of the past two years.

“The good economy brought more tax revenue to the coffers than expected. Instead of the expected primary deficit – excluding interest costs – of 1.6% of GDP, a small surplus of 0.1% was recorded at the end of 2022,” the German economic newspaper writes, adding that “fiscal success is even more remarkable, as the government paid out around €10 billion in energy subsidies last year”. Furthermore, in the first quarter of 2023 tax revenues were 12.4% above targetrefers.

“The government of conservative Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis is therefore going to the May 21 parliamentary elections in solid fiscal. Mr. Mitsotakis is running for a second term. In the opinion polls his party, New Democracy, is currently ahead by about five percentage points of the radical leftist SYRIZA of former prime minister Alexis Tsipras.” continues the publication and notes that Kyriakos Mitsotakis “he promises voters a continuation of the course of consolidation and reform.”

It also refers to the stability program submitted by Greece to the European Commission, “with ambitious goals” for the next four years. According to schedule, “by 2026, the debt ratio should decrease by 36 percentage points to 135.2% and if this forecast is verified, Greece would no longer be the country with the largest deficit, but would be overtaken by Italy, with forecast for 140.4% in 2026,” writes the newspaper and clarifies that, although high, the Greek public debt is considered sustainable by the European Commission, due to its special characteristics. “But the country has a long way to go to reduce the debt: the repayment of the ESM and EFSF aid loans will not start before 2034 and will last until 2070,” the editor emphasizes.