State must hold on to ammunition

The government will submit next year’s first draft budget on Monday, providing for a primary deficit lower than the 2% of GDP forecast in the Stability Program this year, but also a surplus below 1% of GDP (against 1.1% of GDP forecast in the Stability Program), Finance Minister Christos Staikouras said on Friday.

In TV interviews on Skai and Mega, Staikouras made it clear that the fiscal space had been exhausted with the measures announced by the prime minister.

He also talked about two scenarios for the economy. The unfavorable one will lead Europe into recession. Against that, he said that “we need to be careful and have ammunition. If we don’t take care of our finances, given that borrowing costs are high across Europe, we will end up in situations we have experienced recently, such as Greece not having access to the markets, for example.”

However, he argued that even with a recession in Europe, there is a possibility that Greece will not show negative growth rates.

He explained that the adverse scenario of the European Central Bank projects a recession of 1% and inflation of 7% in the eurozone for 2023.