Greece among top six in 2020 for EU fund absorption

Greece came sixth among the European Union’s 28 member-states in the absorption of community funding, the Development Ministry said on Thursday.

Citing European Commission data, the ministry said Greece’s absorption rate in 2020 reached 62%, with total expenditures of 11.6 billion euros. Greece also activated 6.5 billion euros to finance its response to the coronavirus pandemic.

“The high absorption rates are also reflected in the increased requests for payments, to the European Commission,” the ministry said.

“Cumulatively for 2020, requests were submitted totaling 4.3 billion euros, of which 3.6 billion flowed into Greece’s public revenues. It should be noted that this is the highest amount of annual requests since the start of NSFR 2014-2020,” the ministry added.

Greece came first in terms of absorbing funds from the European Regional Development Fund and second in funds absorbed through the European Social Fund.

In terms of the Public Investment Program (PIP) for 2020, its execution rate was 100%, while its limit increased successively within the year to reach 10.6 billion euros – the highest of the last two decades – to cover the increased funding needs. [ANA-MPA]