Marinakis: New increase in the minimum wage to be announced at cabinet meeting on Friday

Government spokesperson Pavlos Marinakis began the daily press briefing on Thursday by announcing that Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis is to address Parliament later in the evening, before MPs vote on a censure motion tabled by four opposition parties, and chair a meeting of the cabinet on Friday.

"Among others, there will be an announcement on a new increase in the minimum wage, the fourth in almost five years. The minimum wage, from 650 euros a month in 2019, has now reached 780 euros [a month], while the average wage is up to 1251 euros a month from 1046 in 2019," he said, adding that the other items on the meeting's agenda are to be announced later.

He also referred to the figures for GDP per capita, in response to criticism from main opposition SYRIZA-Progressive Alliance, citing figures released by the European Commission:

"It is well worth pointing out that the European Commission published figures for 2023 which refer to real GDP per capita and to GDP per capita in purchasing power standards. Regarding the first figure, this takes inflation into account in 2023 as well and shows Greece to be a champion for its increase in the EU, with a performance of 2.5% (from 18690 euros in 2022 to 19150 euros in 2023). In the same year, real per capita income in the EU was flat. Overall, real per capita income during the period 2019-2023 in Greece increased at a rate that was more than double the European average: at 2.1% instead of 1%," Marinakis said.

"The numbers speak for themselves and don't require many explanations. During the governance of Kyriakos Mitsotakis, the real per capita income increased at a rate more than double that of the EU. This happened because, in spite of the major and successive external crises, the government is implementing an effective economic policy, as reflected by the rise in employment by approximately 400,000 new jobs and the real increase in private-sector wages in the last four years, by 6.1%," he added.