Further support of households in case of further increase in energy prices was announced by the Minister of Finance, Christos Staikouras, speaking on SKAI TV and the show “Unmatched”.
“If prices remain or prices rise further, the government may be forced – and rightly so, to intervene even more this year,” Staikouras said.
He described as a priority the reduction of the adverse effects that the energy crisis has on the family budgets.
Speaking about the energy crisis and accuracy, he said that it is a problem exogenous and more intense than the initial estimates. He added that “it seems to be temporary”, that it is expected to de-escalate in the first quarter of 2022 but may hold on to energy products until the second quarter of 2022.
In this context, the Minister of Finance said that he would not be surprised if inflation reaches even 4%.
Minimum salary: Positive suggestion of YPOIK for a second increase
Regarding the minimum wage, Mr. Staikouras stressed that from 01/01/2022 there will be a first increase of 2% while the Ministry of Finance will make a positive suggestion for the second increase announced by the Prime Minister as “now we have safe data that prove that the economy is growing “.
The budget is submitted without additional interventions
The Minister of Finance clarified that the budget submitted to Parliament on Friday does not include additional interventions for any sector of the economy.
The growth of the economy is around 7% initially revised upwards compared to the previous estimate of the draft while unemployment is shrinking by about 1.5 percentage points. According to Mr. Staikouras, the budget also includes a boost in investment and exports, good private consumption and a reduction in public consumption.
There is no lockdown scenario – We have secure cash available
To the question whether the economy can cope in case of lockdown, Mr. Staikouras answered that there is no such scenario on the table for the Greek government. He clarified that the cash resources are sufficient to deal with any crisis that arises in the country, but does not mean that there are always budgetary possibilities.
“We have safe cash, we are ready to face any crisis that arises, it means prudence and foresight, but there is no lockdown scenario on the table by the el government,” said the Minister of Finance.
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