The Greek Ministry of Finance has set the growth rate of the Greek economy at 2.5% this year in its Stability Program submitted to Brussels, "trimming" the budget forecast, which was for a 2.9% expansion.
The Stability Program is in a concise form and covers the 2024–25 period, incorporating €2.4 billion of support measures over the two-year period with no surprises, according to what the government has already announced. However, it foresees a new increase of 360 million euros in the MFF in order to finance projects in Thessaly.
In other key figures, the MoF estimates that the primary surplus will be 2.1% of GDP both this year and next year, the public debt will decelerate this year to 152.7% of GDP (from 161,9% last year), and in 2025 to 146.3%, inflation at average harmonised index levels will close at 2.6% this year and 2% in 2025 (from 4.2% last year), and unemployment is expected to fall to 9.9% next year from 10.6% this year and 11.1% in 2023.
The full medium-term fiscal-structural plan, covering the years 2025–2028, will be submitted under the new fiscal rules in September 2024.
The Ministry of Finance stated that the program's forecasts indicate that the Greek economy will stay on the convergence path, growing at a rate higher than the EU average and seeing a faster rate of inflation decline than the average for the euro area in the upcoming period—as it has been doing for the previous three years.
At the same time, fiscal balance is ensured, debt reduction is continued, and social policy is pursued with the interventions in wages, pensions, and taxes already announced for the period 2024–2025, which have started to be implemented and are leading to a higher than expected increase in citizens' income.