“This government over the past five years has made significant steps forward. We will preserve these steps and, following the same path of seriousness and national responsibility, we will achieve even more. We are not infallible; we are always making improvements based on experience and best international practices. But it will be a huge pity and a waste of the sacrifices made by Greek citizens if we do not continue to close our ears to the sirens of populism.”
This was stressed by the Minister of National Economy and Finance Kostis Hatzidakis speaking tonight at the Athens Investment Forum, adding: “Alas, if after the country’s return to common sense, we make a new turn and are led back to the well-known recipes that we tried in their extreme form, especially in the period 2015-2019, playing with our future and the future of our children. No investor would come to a country where the Minister of Finance does not put the brakes on demands even if they are fair. As long as Kyriakos Mitsotakis is prime minister and I am finance minister, we will never follow foolish policies.”
Hatzidakis said the progress made in the past five years was based on fiscal prudence and pro-investment policies.
Fiscal prudence is attested to by the fact that in 2019-2023 Greece recorded the largest reduction in its public debt-to-GDP ratio in the entire European Union, by more than 53 percentage points, from a high of 207% in 2020 to 153.7% of GDP this year. “In 2028 according to the Medium Term Fiscal Structure Program, it is expected to fall further to 133.4%, so Greece will no longer be the EU country with the highest debt ratio,” the minister noted.
While referring to the pro-investment policy, he underlined:
– The simplification of licensing, land use and environmental permits in particular, the Single Digital Map with the necessary geospatial data for the licensing of any kind of investment, the implementation of fast track procedures for the approval of investments of flagship character.
– The creation of a more robust banking system that will provide liquidity to the market, an effort that will continue with the bill for the modernization of the capital market, the creation of the new National Investment Fund, financial incentives for business mergers.
– The adoption of modern labour legislation, which on the one hand protects the rights of workers and on the other hand supports the competitiveness of the economy.
– The more than 60 tax cuts that have been made and another 12 included in the 2025 budget. “Thanks to the strong growth rates of the economy and the systematic effort to reduce tax evasion, there will be the fiscal space so that in both 2026 and 2027 we will be able to proceed with further tax reductions. And the emphasis will be on the reduction of direct taxes, which will be passed directly into the pockets of taxpayers and not “encapsulated” by intermediaries,” Hatzidakis said.
– The reduction of insurance contributions by 5.4 points in total, so that Greece reaches the European average in this area.
“As a result of all this,” the minister concluded, “Greece has recorded the highest increase in investment volume in the last five years in the entire EU. In the period 2019-2023, investment increased in constant prices by 53.4%. And the progress in attracting investment is also reflected in the very significant increase in exports. From 23% of GDP in 2008, we reached 43% of GDP in 2023. It is thanks to the implementation of this policy that Greece has managed to have much stronger growth than the European average, a rapid reduction in public debt, a very large reduction in unemployment with half a million new jobs. Nobody is claiming that Greece has become Luxembourg, Sweden or Switzerland. And of course we take into account and take seriously what people say. The effort to close the gap with the European average is ongoing and cannot be done by ‘economic discretion’. But with continuous and serious effort and with our country firmly oriented to the policy mix implemented in recent years.”
