ATHENS (Reuters) – Greece has received nearly 15 billion euros in grants and loans from the European Union (EU) recovery fund since 2021, a sum equivalent to around 8% of its gross domestic product (GDP), the Greek government said on Monday.
After years of underinvestment linked to the 2010-2018 financial crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic, Greece has improved its use of European funds, tackling reform of its administration and supporting its economy.
Greece is eligible for a total of 36 billion euros in grants and loans from the post-pandemic fund until 2027. These resources are expected to mobilize a total investment of 60 billion euros in medium-sized companies, green energy, digitalization and infrastructure.
Athens will submit requests to receive an additional 3.6 billion euros from the recovery fund by September, which would help the country meet its GDP growth target of 2.9% this year, the vice-president said on Monday. Minister of Finance Nikos Papathanasis.
Greek public investments – which mainly come from the EU, including the recovery fund, as well as the state budget – will amount to 12 billion euros this year and will reach 15 billion euros in 2026, according to a presentation from the Ministry of Finance.
“More than 60% of the expected growth of 2.9% in 2024 will come from public investment, which will be the largest in the last 14 years,” Nikos Papathanasis told reporters. “We are optimistic that new jobs will be created.”
Athens has doubled annual state funding for natural disasters to 600 million euros, following record floods caused by climate change that washed away farmland, roads and buildings. railway tracks and killed 16 people in the Thessaly region.
The government plans to use more than 3.5 billion euros in European and national funds to repair the damage caused to households and businesses by the September disasters and to make its infrastructure more resilient to climate change in the years to come , added Nikos Papathanasis.
(Report by Angeliki Koutantou; by Stéphanie Hamel, edited by Blandine Hénault)
Copyright © 2024 Thomson Reuters
I have over 8 years of experience working in the news industry. I have worked as a reporter, editor, and now managing editor at 247 News Agency. I am responsible for the day-to-day operations of the news website and overseeing all of the content that is published. I also write a column for the website, covering mostly market news.
