Greek Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos admitted that the recent measures the Greek government passed in parliament would have negative effects on the country’s economy. Speaking in a TV interview on ANT-1 TV, Tskalaotos said he understood that the deal reached with Greece’s creditors atb the Eurogroup meeting would have no impact on the life of a pensioner receiving 600 Euros a month. ‘It is clear that the measures will have a recessionary tendency and will be difficult for the people’, he said.

Tsakalotos claimed the government decided to adopt many measures, thus slightly increasing costs across the spectrum of the economy in order to spread the burden throughout Greek society, instead of caving in to the lenders’ demands for 10% hikes in power and water utilities. The Minister continued by arguing the government managed to protect main pensions. ‘For those with a pension below the 1,400 monthly threshold, nothing is cut’, he noted.

On the matter of the rise in VAT on the Greek islands, Tsakalotos expressed his agreement with the country’s lenders that scrapping the lower VAT coefficient in the Aegean islands was the correct move, arguing residents on less prosperous islands would not benefit from lower VAT, as tourists would choose the larger more popular islands. ‘I believe the right way to help them is by adopting a serious growth policy’, he underscored. Tsakalotos recognised that a ‘small portion’ of poor people would suffer due to the government backing down to the creditors’ pressure from its promise to leave the 9,100 Euro tax free threshold untouched.