Little room for extra government largesse

Finance Ministry officials say the need to pour more money into electricity subsidies will “drastically” limit funds available for other kinds of income support.

Specifically, of the extra 2-2.3 billion euros believed to be available for extra spending by the end of the year, only about €400-700 million will be spent on actions other than electricity subsidies, they say. But they also insist there is margin for more support schemes, which Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis will announce at the Thessaloniki International Fair on September 10.

Officials are eagerly awaiting the budget implementation results for the second quarter of the year (April-June) on September 7.

“The budget, tourism and the (GDP) growth rate in the second quarter will… be considered in looking for (spending) margins in the fourth quarter of 2022 and throughout 2023,” Finance Minister Christos Staikouras said on Tuesday.