“The 2024 budget is a budget for sustainable development and social cohesion. Which increases the national income pie. It reduces inequalities. It ensures the fiscal balance that we all worked so hard to restore over the past four years,” emphasized ND rapporteur Stelios Petsas at the start of the debate and voting of the bill “Sanction of the State Budget for fiscal year 2024” in the Plenary.

Mr. Petsas underlined that the budget is based on triptych: Sustainable development, social cohesion, fiscal balance – builds trust. This concept which from a valuable intangible capital for the economy is now transformed into a permanent empowerment for society”. He pointed out that confidence “is reflected in the recovery – after 13 whole years – of the investment grade for the Greek economy”.

The rapporteur of the majority emphasized that “since July 2019, the government of Kyriakos Mitsotakis and the New Democracy has methodically, with vision and safety, steered the ship of our country to a better tomorrow” and added that “the 2024 budget, supports the national economy, households and businesses in a way that contributes to sustainable development and social cohesion. So that inequalities are reduced, no one is left behind, we all go forward together and our Greece even higher »

Mr. Petsas stated that “the 2024 budget “consolidates the trust, resilience, solidarity, stability, reliability and progress achieved by Greece after the multi-year crisis of the last decade and the successive external crises of recent years ” and now “the rating agencies reward the prudent and robust economic policy we implement, positively evaluate political stability and see the positive dynamics and perspective of our national economy”.

Referring to investment grade recoveryHe said that this concerns all of us as it brings “more investments, new well-paid jobs and higher wages across the entire spectrum of the economy, freeing up resources in favor of work, strengthening the competitiveness of the Greek economy and the well-being of society. A reduction in borrowing costs with partial compensation of the adverse effects from the European Central Bank’s interest rate hike cycle for households and businesses and a strong consolidation of the credibility that our national economy has been systematically building for four years. Reduction of “country risk” and increase in investments in Greek government bonds, thus attracting stronger demand for Greek securities. Promotion of Greece to the group of the most attractive economies”.

The ND MP in economic terms from the data of the 2024 state budget pointed out that he is “building a brighter tomorrow for Greece as it is based on the following solid foundations: Strong and sustainable development for all. In prudent fiscal policy. In increasing investments. To increase the income of Greeks. In reducing unemployment to fifteen-year lows. In the recession of inflation. In predictability, as we continue to do what we say.”

Mr. Petsas said that the 2024 budget confirms that “our first priority is to increase the income of Greeks. For this, we are increasing the salaries of civil servants, lifting the three-year freeze for employees, increasing the tax-free allowance for families with children, increasing the minimum guaranteed income, increasing pensions again, and at the same time mobilizing investment resources amounting to 12.17 billion. euros through the Public Investment Program (€8.55 billion) and the Recovery and Resilience Fund (€3.62 billion), which are expected to flow into the economy within 2024. In addition, we are strengthening the health sector with an increase in the grant of hospitals by 481 million euros or by approximately 20%. We are also prioritizing the major changes that the country needs with a series of measures that have been announced to combat tax evasion.” Referring to the limitation of tax evasion, he said that “this money constitutes a social dividend. Because the Prime Minister’s commitment to return this money to society is clear, with better public health, more spending on education, strengthening public security and the defense of our homeland.” He added that “the 2024 state budget includes fiscal interventions amounting to 2.5 billion euros that boost the income, especially of low-wage earners and low-pensioners, and contribute to mitigating social inequalities and reducing poverty” and, in addition, “fiscal interventions to deal with of the inflationary pressures due to the energy crisis, amounting to 2,584 million euros” and “of course the budgetary interventions to deal with the economic consequences of natural disasters continue, such as the immediate coverage of the needs for the payment of compensations (first aid and agricultural compensations) as well as repairs and infrastructure improvements, totaling 600 million euros, and, above all, the doubling of the resources of the national part of the PDE to 600 million euros, in order to cover on a permanent basis the costs of state aid against natural disasters”.

Mr. Petsas also responded to the objections of the opposition, saying that “the basic macroeconomic figures and the fiscal interventions of the 2024 state budget provide the answers” and noting that “the 2024 state budget is not a budget of inequalities, nor of poverty, and this is also proven by the analysis of the redistributive impact of the Government’s fiscal interventions” as well as “it is clearly not anti-development, when the country’s GDP grows at more than double the rate of the average of the developed economies of the euro zone in 2024 and multiple times in the three years 2022-2024, allowing the convergence of incomes with the average of our partners in Europe reversing the divergence of the last decade”.