An €800 million supplementary budget will be submitted next week by the Ministry of National Economy and Finance, while a bill with all the support measures will be put to public consultation.
This was announced by Minister Kyriakos Pierrakakis, in a speech at the 2nd economic conference of Imerisia: “The world in transition: Greece, the new geo-economy and the next day of investment”.
The supplementary budget, as well as most of the extraordinary and permanent support measures announced, will be included in the bill to tackle illegal gambling that will be posted for public consultation next week.
At the same time, the minister announced that widows over 60 years of age will also receive the 300 euro aid, since the only pension they have is the widow’s pension, and not from the age of 65. He said these are mainly women who are in a difficult situation, with limited access to the labour market, and the State must stand by them with sensitivity and fairness.
In detail, the Minister said:
It is a great pleasure to be with you today at the conference of the Daily and I am really happy because you are giving me the opportunity to participate in an open discussion with people who are at the forefront of economy.
We are all together witnessing the events, the changes, the dreams, the transitions, but also the problems, the surprises and the refutations. The historical context is difficult, testing us, but at the same time challenging and invigorating us. It seems that there are open channels of communication between Washington and Tehran and negotiations are underway, yet we are in the context of a fragile situation that continues to be marked by significant uncertainties.
Furthermore, markets do not only work on the basis of expectations, but mainly on the basis of confidence.It is on confidence that expectations are built and it is confidence that also takes time to be restored. In any case, the shocks of such a crisis and the fears that this crisis has caused do not disappear overnight. Objectively, they take time.
The vulnerability of the entire energy matrix in the Gulf and Middle East region has been demonstrated for the first time on such a large scale. The risk premiums will not give way easily. Supply chains will take months to return to their “factory settings”. investors are not “gluttonous” to forget overnight the sleepless nights of the last few months. And if anything will be left to remember it will be the return of geography. In an age when data and information run at the speed of light, geography remains a stubborn force that looms over the human.
Strategically critical regions and all manner of “Straits” still define the world’s economy and geopolitics. Therefore, for all these reasons, energy prices are not expected to immediately return to their exact pre-crisis levels and economic growth will not begin to gallop overnight. So we will need, even if all the issues heal quickly, some time to adjust in a clear way. I would also argue that the evolution of the crisis highlights with even greater intensity the definitive transition to a different world.
It is now clear that the different centres of power have a substantive, rather than theoretical, role in shaping international developments. No global power can now, on its own, fully impose its will on a focus of geopolitical tension. Europe, therefore, as one of the major world powers, must realistically map this new reality and, yes, stand up to the expectations of what it can do, both in relation to history and to European societies themselves.
Ladies and gentlemen,
International organisations have not been sitting on their hands lately. They have been following developments and have already come to some conclusions. According to the IMF, an increase in the price of oil by $10 a barrel could reduce global growth by about 0.2 percentage points. For businesses this translates into lower demand, higher costs and more limited liquidity. The impact is necessarily passed on to the employment market, to the ‘household economy’ and to public finances. Even in the “good scenario” of a rapid de-escalation of the crisis , the economy will continue to move for a while in a state of caution. Countries will need the entire second half of 2026 to restore the lags and irregularities that emerged in the first half.
Opportunities in the crisis
Now is therefore the time to look at the opportunities that are encapsulated in the crisis. There is, after all, the well-known saying that: you should never let a serious crisis go to waste. In this sense it is also an opportunity for Europe to build this stronger economic architecture that we have been talking about for many years. And when we say “new economic architecture” it is essentially three things: more functioning capital markets, a more efficient banking union and a better use of available resources.
I will mention something I said very recently in Brussels: “The dividend of the obvious”. If Europe implements the Savings and Investment Union, the digital euro and all those self-evident reforms, such as the removal of barriers that still exist between member states, then a “obvious” dividend of growth is created for every member state and for 2027.
Just as the introduction of the euro or as the single market of the 1990s introduced new opportunities and new areas for growth, so now new reforms will be forward-looking for the economy, but also for the European vision of a stronger society on our continent.
Today, about €10 trillion of European deposits are not being channelled with sufficient speed and efficiency into the real economy, not being translated into investment. This capital inertia limits Europe’s growth potential and reinforces a sense of stagnation that pervades societies. In this environment, a pervasive social fatigue is being fostered, accompanied in some cases by growing political divisions.
When we say that Europe needs an integrated Savings and Investment Union, that it needs the digital euro to move steadily and quickly in the changing monetary and technological environment, what we mean is the transition to a stronger society, where European values and the European way of life are put into practice. We are not talking about life in the skyscrapers of banking centres, but about life in every home from Kastelorizo to Rotterdam.
International uncertainty also affects Greece
Ladies and gentlemen,
“The dividend of the obvious”that I mentioned above also applies at the national level. Each country has specific obvious interventions that, if implemented, yield immediate development benefits. On the one hand, we are called upon to resolve the outstanding issues of the past, labour market reforms for countries like ours, in the education system, and on the other hand, to respond to new challenges that emerge and often cannot be foreseen.
It is clear that international uncertainty is affecting Greece, we are not an isolated and self-sufficient country. Energy costs are a factor affecting markets and motivating businesses to be more cautious in their investments and plans. As well as citizens have legitimate concerns and worries about the future. In this context, we decided that our policy intervention should be targeted and costed. The recent set of measures (first and second package) totalling €800 million is aimed at supporting those citizens who need it most.
And because I am today at a conference of a financial newspaper, a financial media, in the presence of many journalists, I want to inform you that next week the bill on tackling illegal gambling will be posted for public consultation.In it, a supplementary budget of €800 million will be included, as well as the largest part 150 euro aid for each child is introduced, with expanded income criteria.
*Second, housing measures. The beneficiaries of the annual rent reimbursement are extended, and two rent reimbursements are introduced for public officials serving away from their place of residence – doctors, teachers and nurses. These are people who keep, I would say, the welfare state standing.
At the same time, a ban on new Airbnb-type short-term rental permits in the center of Thessaloniki is being enacted, a measure that will be implemented immediately after the bill’s passage. Housing must remain affordable, especially for young people.
Thirdly, measures for pensioners. Both the number of beneficiaries and the amount of aid are increased, which is increased from 250 euros to 300 euros.
And here I want to focus on an important social intervention: we are remedying an injustice concerning widows. Since the only pension they have is the widow’s pension, they will receive the 300 euro aid from the age of 60 and not from 65. These are mainly women who are in a difficult situation , with limited access to the labour market and the State must stand by them with sensitivity and justice.
The same draft law also includes the inclusion of young farmers in the GEA tariff, reducing their energy costs, as well as the taxation of electronic betting companies, from which the State will have a steady annual revenue of, we estimate, 100 million euros.
Ladies and gentlemen,
In the measures we announced recently, it became clear, through them, that we place particular emphasis on the management and treatment of private debt. Because behind the numbers there are people, families and businesses that have been faced with not just one, but repeated crises.
So we created the possibility of lifting the seizure of a bank account upon payment of 25% of the debt. The extrajudicial mechanism for debts from 5,000 to 10,000 euros is expanded , which concerns about 300,000 of our fellow citizens. At the same time, the possibility is given to adjust up to 72 instalments for debts created until December 2023.
These interventions are not just social measures. They are economic reintegration measures. Measures that enable citizens to get back on their feet.
To paraphrase Winston Churchill: successes are not final, but neither should failures be fatal. What matters is that you have the courage to keep going. And that’s what we want to give citizens today: the strength to carry on.
That’s why the draft law that is being consulted on immediately includes another important intervention that we announced a few weeks ago. Through the out-of-court mechanism, debtors will now be able to claim a settlement for their main residence, separating it from the rest of their property. The amount of the “haircut” and the monthly instalment will be determined on the basis of the value of the first home, if the debtor chooses to liquidate the rest of his/her property. This is an effective protection of the first home. A fair and realistic solution that gives a new perspective to people who have found themselves in a dead end.
More competitive economy
Ladies and Gentlemen,
In this complex international picture, Greece presents a different dynamic than in the past. The economy is growing at a rate of around 2%, higher in any case than the European average. Investment has risen from 11% of GDP when we took over in 2019 to 17% in 2025, and unemployment has fallen to close to 8% from 27% at the height of the financial crisis.
Government debt is on a steady downward trajectory with a target of falling below 120% of GDP before the end of the decade in 2029. To get to 119% based on the forecast. The productive base of the economy is strengthening. Exports have risen from 20% of GDP in 2010 to 42% today. We still have a way to go before we reach 51% of the European average, but we are on the right track.
All this adds up to a picture of a more outward-looking and more competitive economy. The next step is to turn these advantages into lasting power, into national strength. With a plan, with discipline, with determination, with confidence in the country’s productive forces.
Debt reduction has a direct impact on the functioning of the economy. It reduces the cost of borrowing. It frees up resources for new investment. From early loan repayments alone we save around €200 million a year in interest, which can be directed to development activities. Therefore, the debt decumulation that we insist on is a policy that unties the economy’s hands, not ties them. The funds we channel into debt relief are transformed into “fuel” for faster growth that reaches everywhere in the economy and society.
Who denies that in 2026 we have a completely different and privileged starting point from the one we had in 2019? And if we work with the same determination that we had in 2019 and that we had in 2023, how much better results can we have achieved by 2030? By 2030, we will have completed a “won decade”. We will have regained the lost time from the incoherence, internal defeats, zero-sum conflicts and division of the previous decade.
Strategy
The strategy for the next period is clear. Strengthen investment in energy, infrastructure, logistics and technology. Exploiting the country’s geographical position. Improving productivity and supporting innovation.
An integral piece of the “puzzle” of the economy of the near future is the energy sector, as Greece is constantly strengthening as an energy and trade hub in the wider region of Southeast Europe and the Southeast Mediterranean.
For 2026 we have revised growth from 2.4% to 2% and indeed inflation is temporarily rising. However, based on the new data for 2027 we are revising growth up, investment up and inflation down. And if the question persists “What happens after the Recovery Fund?” part of the answer lies in the new culture that has emerged through these years and has been supported in practice by the Recovery Fund. In the culture of stability and reform that has largely inspired a new confidence in the country.
Following the digitalisation of the state and public administration that has untied the hands of citizens, reduced bureaucracy and increased transparency, digital change is spreading to the Land Registry, urban planning, the judiciary and the tax administration. In parallel, the introduction of Artificial Intelligence is progressing, marking a new stage of revolution for the economy and the functioning of the state.
Another part of the answer to the question “after the Recovery Fund, what?” lies in the new resources from the co-financed Public Investment Programme increasing to €7 billion in 2027 as well as the influx of new European funds, from the Social Climate Fund and the Modernisation Fund.
And a third part of the answer is Greece’s growing ability to attract foreign direct investment, something that until a few years ago was in the realm of fantasy.
Ladies and gentlemen,
Obviously, you are not expecting anything from the Finance Minister and from me personally but a message of optimism about the course of the economy and the country. And of course, I am a genuine optimist. But I would like to close with a somewhat different thought.
A business or a government beyond a structure of goals and processes is a living expression of values. If we want countries and structures, businesses, regions and organizations, cities and communities to be resilient and dynamic, we must above all build cultures and narratives, formulate plans and goals that inspire, motivate and withstand trials and unforeseen events.
Reality and the present contain many elements that can make us skeptical. But we have the opportunity to look beyond the present and believe in the cumulative outcome we can achieve through perseverance, patience and hard work. Only in this way will we dispel the doubts of even the most pessimistic and win them along with us on a path of creation that can seal and characterize our time.
