An additional 2 bln euro budget to support households and businesses

The 2-billion-euro additional budget will be submitted by the finance ministry within the week, in order to provide further support to households and businesses, Finance Minister Christos Staikouras said in a statement to the Athens-Macedonian News Agency (ANA) released on Sunday. 

Staikouras added: "We are listening to the society and we feel the need of citizens for further support, since the crisis is still very intense." This additional package of measures (so far the measures are close to 4 billion euros) that has been announced, aims, as the finance minister stated, to reduce, as much as possible, the pressure on family budgets, mainly of the weaker income strata.

Yesterday during the New Democracy (ND) pre-conference held in Thessaloniki Finance Minister Christos Staikouras said "the crisis caused by the war in Ukraine is affecting the Greek economy, but it will not divert it", adding that "irreversible situations will not be created. We have proved that in difficult times we can make it."

"The achievements and the positive prospects created over the last years are blurred due to the current situation and the recent difficulties and challenges. However, the strong foundations that were laid in previous years, make us optimistic that the new crisis affects, but will not divert the Greek economy. The new crisis creates additional difficulties, but will not lead to irreversible situations. In any case, we are aware of the escalation of problems in the field of economy," he pointed out.

Despite the huge challenges and the high uncertainty "the New Democracy party has proved that in difficult times it can, and that is why I am sure that despite the great storms, the Greek economy will eventually lead to a climate of high and sustainable growth creating many new jobs and support of social cohesion. I deeply believe that with unity and political cohesion we will succeed," he said.

Referring to the course of the Greek economy, the Finance Minister pointed out that the recovery of 2021 was strong "covering the losses of 2020", the composition of GDP improved, as there was a significant increase in both investment and exports, the turnover of companies in 2021 exceeded by 15 billion euros the 2019 levels and unemployment shrank significantly.