Legislative initiative to reduce the interest rate in arrangements for guaranteed debts for one year, an issue highlighted by SKAI, announced through our station and the show Today Kostis Hatzidakis. The interest rate for 12 installments is currently at 6.68% while for 24 or 48 installments at 8.18%.

According to information from SKAI, the interest rate for debt settlement at AADE is reduced to 4.34% and frozen for one year, and to 5.84% for more installments.

The specific interest rate was at 4.12% in 2021, at 4.09% in 2022, at 6.43% in 2023 and reached 6.78% last January according to data from the Bank of Greece.

“We have also seen the issue of the arrangements for the debts to the tax authorities, we have discussed it with the AADE, and we have decided to bring an arrangement, so that for one year, from now until 2025, we will return to last year’s interest rate, which was much lower” said the Minister of National Economy.

“There is a legislation that links these arrangements to the current interest rate, explained the minister. Because the interest rate this year went up all over Europe above, and it has become too high, there was a regulation in the EFKA, there will also be a regulation in the tax office as well”, noted Mr. Hatzidakis.

Reduction of taxes, VAT and insurance contributions

The Minister of National Economy also noticed that the tax rates with the ND have not gone up, many taxes have fallen and having the same and lower tax rates in 2023 there was 9% more revenue than in 2022 because the economy is working, and why there have been successes in tax evasion front. “We estimate that we have collected half a billion euros due to electronic transactions and other efforts. 50 different taxes have been reduced, next year we have committed, based on our program and the possibilities of the economy, that we will further reduce insurance contributions… We will make permanent the return of the EKF to farmers, and these are taxes”.

“The Kasselakis program is funny”

The minister called the program of SYRIZA president Stefanos Kasselakis a joke. “The super profits that Mr. Kasselakis says he will tax, we also taxed them, both to the electric companies, and to the refineries, and from there we gave the subsidies for the electricity and for the various passes, etc. The issue is to tax someone as far as business can bear. Because if they can’t stand it, they’ll greet us. Mr. Kasselakis has a program that is, unfortunately, funny. Obviously it’s a joke. E.g. he says he will ”cut personal taxes by 30%… How much are those taxes? 12 billion… What costs does he say we will have? 140 million. This program is a joke,” added the Finance Minister.

“Mr. Kasselakis lived elsewhere in the last decade, so he is entitled to say what he says about the economy, the others who were here, who were all here, who lived through the unprecedented crisis of the last decade, are not justified. The country lost over 25% of GDP per capita. How will the gap disappear overnight? Only in cartoons these things. We need to have higher growth rates than others, and so far we have. The standard of living is rising, we were at 62% of the Community average in 2020, today we are at 67%. We have four times, five times, growth rates of the Eurozone average, it is indicative that we are going in the right direction and that we will converge, and we are slowly getting closer.”

Greece, explained Kostis Hatzidakis, has not turned into a paradise with the ND, but in relation to SYRIZA of Mr. Tsipras and Kasselakis today we have taken steps forward. About 400,000 unemployed fellow citizens of ours have found work prospects today, unemployment was at 18% and today it is at 10%. In the deposits we found from SYRIZA 150 billion euros in the banks and now it is about 200 billion euros. Households have higher savings. In wages, we found a minimum wage of 650 euros and it has gone to 830. If we include the inflation that is discounted for 2024, the cumulative since ’19 is 16.5 units. The minimum wage increase is 28 units.

Database for uninsured vehicles

For the uninsured cars, the minister stated that we have brought a n/s, we estimate that it is 500,000. “It’s bad (the issue with uninsured cars), because some crooks who don’t pay and some who pay and feel like fools, the state loses money, but even if there’s a crash, if the other person is uninsured, you step on it too… We’re coming now and we are consulting with the Ministry of Transport, the Ministry of Digital Governance, and the insurance companies, and we are making a single (data) base, there will be an exchange of information, there will be periodic checks every six months. Everyone should go and get insurance, because at the intersection they will find each other, and there will be a regime of equality for everyone.”

Extrajudicial mechanism

The out-of-court mechanism for those with bad loans is going well, Kostis Hatzidakis also announced. This year we have 25,000 applications in the first four months to be included in the extrajudicial mechanism, while last year we had 13,000, because we made it almost mandatory for the vulnerable to compromise with the funds, banks, servicers, etc. and because we have given a very favorable interest rate of 3%.

“Rama and North Macedonia must have European logic”

Regarding Edi Rama’s incendiary statements, he commented that “we are an EU country, they are not… Their road passes through Athens. “The same applies to Skopje. There is no need for a defeatist approach, more self-confidence is needed, and an awareness of the balance of forces… I would not say the same about Turkey, which is a matter of another scale.”

“If they want to have a European perspective, they must also have a European logic. I believe sooner or later, both of them will understand even more that it is in their interest to have friendly relations with Athens” explained the Minister of Finance.