Minister of National Economy and Finance Kostis Hatzidakis gave answers to one by one the opposition’s objections to the government’s economic policy, speaking tonight at the meeting of the Standing Committee on Economic Affairs for the 2024 state budget.

He characteristically noted that the revenues of the State rose by 9.1% without raising taxesbecause with growth the economy rises.

Mr. Hatzidakis emphasized that the government is not beautifying the situation, but it is not going to hide the progress that has been achieved in recent years, “which the majority of the Greek people obviously found in the elections”, as he said, and he stood on ten points criticism of the opposition, noting the following:

1. The government does not have a clear position on the new EU fiscal rules. “Our position is crystal clear: we are in favor of an approach that will not undermine growth. But regardless of any agreement we will follow a serious fiscal policy because this is the passport for development, investment and guarantees that the country will not get involved in new adventures”.

2. Inflation: “Half the countries of the European Union have higher inflation than Greece. I’m not proud, but I can’t even hear that our country is a champion in inflation.”

3. Development: “It goes without saying that countries with more tourism were more affected during the coronavirus period. However, the latest figures for 2023 show that Greece is the third fastest growing country in the entire European Union. 24 countries are behind us, when under SYRIZA it was usually 24 without being above us”.

4. Unemployment: “The government took unemployment in the summer of 2019 to 17.5% and today it is below 11%. 300,000 of our fellow citizens who are not working in the summer of 2019, are now working and can make the comparisons themselves.”

5. Taxation: “We actually have much more revenue, 9.1% more but without any tax increase. We only made reductions. There are other ways to increase revenue and it is especially good on the left to listen to them. The first is greater growth, the second greater tourist traffic, the third or rising wages in the private sector, and the fourth the widespread use of credit cards and electronic transactions. Inflationary effects also played a role, but to a much lesser extent.”

6.Salaries: “The average salary last year was €1176 and this year we predict that it will close at around €1250. So we are approaching the four-year goal, in 2027 to be €1500. Don’t worry and point it out because it backfires for you.”

7. Private debt: “Despite the crisis, Greece is below the European Union average, in 17th place. In addition, overdue debt as a percentage of the total decreased from 68.3% in 2019 to 61% now. This reduction is not unrelated to the efforts made for bad loans, the extrajudicial mechanism, and the other initiatives of the government.”

8. Banks-recapitalization: “Someone misinformed the SYRIZA rapporteur who claimed that the government has lost control and that the Greek citizen has been harmed. The reality is that the State injected €30.9 billion into the systemic banks for the recapitalization and had a benefit of €33.4 billion from the debt reduction, the convertible bonds and the disinvestment of the Money Fund…