Greek 2025 budget to feature €880 million in relief measures
The 2025 state budget is currently being drafted and is expected to include approximately €880 million in interventions and relief measures. Institutions and ministries have submitted their proposals, detailing expenditure and revenue estimates for both the current year and 2025, to the General Accounting Office.
Under the new Stability Pact rules, primary expenditure – an essential tool for fiscal discipline – cannot increase by more than 3%. Greece’s budget for next year will be capped at €115 billion, up from about €111.6 billion in 2024. Within this framework, the government must balance various social policy measures, including tax relief, benefits, new public sector hires, and pension increases.
Greece must also meet a target of a primary surplus of 2.1% of GDP. Current projections indicate economic growth of 2.6%, inflation easing to 2%, and public debt expected to decline to 146.3% of GDP in 2025, down from 152.7% this year.
The new budget will feature measures totaling around €880 million, as promised by the Greek government. These measures include a pension increase aligned with GDP growth and inflation (costing approximately €400 million), a 0.5% reduction in social security contributions (costing €225 million), the abolition of the business levy (costing €120 million), a permanent refund of the excise tax on agricultural diesel using a new method (estimated at €100 million), an extension of the VAT suspension on new buildings (costing €20 million), and an increase in the student housing allowance (costing €15 million). [AMNA]
