Staikouras sees fiscal space in 2023

"My estimate is that, given the way the Greek economy is progressing today, the way we expect Greek society and the economy to progress, fiscal space will be created in 2023," said Finance Minister Christos Staikouras late on Wednesday, speaking to Mega TV on the sidelines of the world economic forum in Davos.

With this phrase, the finance minister essentially confirmed that the government has already begun to plan on paper how the funds expected to be saved from the Special Reserve Fund of 1 billion euros for this year's energy subsidies could be used.

Staikouras "put the brakes" on scenarios of a change in the subsidy model for electricity bills and underlined that "we will follow the well-established, successful strategy of 2022, according to which we generously supported households and businesses, mainly households, covering the more significant percentage of the extra financial burden they had in 2022, without incurring a large fiscal cost. And this is why we achieved, as it appears, an excellent fiscal result."

At the same time, Staikouras confirmed the possibility of a new support package for society in the face of high prices, noting that "if there is fiscal space and as long as new fiscal space arises, this will indeed be entirely returned to society, with social criteria."