Economist 'World Ahead 2024' - Hatzidakis outlines 2024 economic policy

Minister of National Economy and Finance Kostis Hatzidakis, in his speech at the Economist conference "The World Ahead 2024", outlined the three axes of Greece's economic policy for 2024.

Speaking on Monday, the minister talked of a turbulent international environment, where geopolitical instability has become the normality. Further exacerbating this, he added, was the political uncertainty due to elections taking place in many countries.

In this environment, he said, "Greece is one of the few sources of good news." He noted that the country has the third-highest growth rate in the eurozone, its unemployment rate has dropped to single-digit figures, along with a significant growth of Foreign Direct Investment and exports. Moreover, Greece has the fastest reduction in public debt as a percentage of GDP in the history of the eurozone and has recovered an investment-grade rating after 10 years.

The policy exercised until now, Hatzidakis noted, had three axes: a responsible fiscal policy, pro-growth reforms and the exercise of an effective and fair social policy. "This is how we will continue in 2024," he pointed out.

For the first axis, the minister stated that the new budget sees a primary surplus of 2.1% of GDP, while for 2023 it is expected to ultimately exceed the 1.1% of GDP target. Public debt is expected to further decrease by 8 percentage points, also within the new economic governance framework. "Not because we have to, but because we want to," he said. And he pointed out that "without fiscal stability we are not going anywhere, as the previous 10 years have shown."

For the second axis, as Hatzidakis said, investments in 2024 are envisaged to increase by 15.1% with the "help" of the Recovery Fund. The goal, he said, is the growth of businesses and for this reason there will be a bill with incentives for business mergers, which will cover more cases and at the same time will be simpler and more understandable.

For the third axis, Hatzidakis said that the increase in the disposable income of citizens will continue, always with a serious fiscal policy, referring to the increases in funds for education and health, support measures for young families, etc.

Concluding, the minister said that a "revolution of common sense" is taking place in Greece. We can, he added, "safely say that we have left the worst behind. And the economy will move in a new direction of sustainable and unrestricted growth."