State Minister Akis Skertsos gives a detailed answer for the country’s development model, with a post on social media.

“Two of the opposition clichés we often hear lately from SYRIZA and PASOK talk about the precarious course of the economy. According to critics of the current economic policy, “the 20-year record of foreign direct investment is focused on real estate, so there is no change in the development model” while, in addition, “the country is again at risk of fiscal derailment due to high debt and the fiscal expansion that followed during the health and energy crisis ““, the Minister of State notes in the introduction and continues:

“Both claims are false and do not correspond to reality. This is certified both by the indices of the international investment houses that have already proceeded to upgrade Greece to investment grade, as well as by the European Commission and Eurostat.

As for the first cliché that wants Greece not to produce “a single pin” and to attract foreign investments of low added value for the economy, the evidence is overwhelming”, he says, citing data from the DBRS company.

On the other hand, he adds, “in 2021 and 2022 real estate purchases were indeed an important part of foreign direct investment […] but they are far from being the majority of FDI. For example, in 2022 investments in manufacturing were more than real estate purchases, exceeding 1 billion euros, which is roughly what total FDI in Greece was in the early 2000s.

In fact, Greece is one of the 5 European countries that managed to increase their manufacturing output in 2023, marking the 4th best performance pan-European, while all other countries saw an overall decrease in their own manufacturing activity – Germany, Italy and France included” .

And A. Schertsos adds: “Why is processing important? Because it usually offers steady, better-paying jobs and appeals to foreign markets, helping to increase our exports. Here we should also remember that Greek exports of goods and services, an indicator of the “health” of the economy, now make up 50% of GDP, while before the debt crisis it was close to 20%».

At the same time, “as for the second cliché expressing concerns about public finances, according to the latest IMF report, […] Greece now has one of the lowest government deficits in developed economies (smaller than Germany), at the same time it is one of the few countries in the eurozone to record a primary surplus and has achieved the most significant fiscal correction since the pandemic.

This is complemented by the fact that, according to Eurostat, Greece is experiencing the largest reduction in public debt in the EU […] above 20 points, a course that will continue to be strongly downward in the coming years as according to the stability program we have submitted it will be below 140% by the end of the current term”.

It ends with the remark, “the above does not in any way mean that we underestimate the legacy of the Greek debt crisis which, despite the significant improvement of the last four years, is still present in economic variables such as public and private debt and unemployment (mainly that of young people). Nor do we ignore the risks arising from international geopolitical and economic developments. And of course we do not consider that all the reforms needed for our country to reach the European average in the economic sector have been completed.

We are aware of all of the above, and it is precisely for this reason that in the program statements we presented a comprehensive and coherent economic program based on the continuation of fiscal responsibility and reforms. These policies ensure that the progress of the previous four years will continue and the crisis of the last decade will not be repeated».

The Secretary of State’s full report, complete with pie charts, is posted on his Facebook account