High primary surpluses and 2025
Two landmarks for the country includes the reduction strategy of debt that has drawn up the government’s financial staff.
The first concerns the target in 2029 that Greece is no longer the most indebted country in Europe. The second is the early repayment by 2031 of € 31.6 billion left to completely erase the obligations of the first memorandum which should be fulfilled with equal quarterly installments from 2029 to 2041. The next stop in this course is € 5 of the EUR 5,29 billion. left from the first memorandum.
The aim of these moves by the Ministry of National Economy and Finance and the Organization for Public Debt Management (ODIH) is to send yet another strong message of credibility to the markets, to shield the Greek economy from possible turmoil in the international environment, and to leave behind it. Thus, more resources from the fiscal performance of the economy, instead of serving past liabilities, will be able to be directed to strengthen growth and distribute dividend to citizens.
“With the complete repayment of the loans of the International Monetary Fund (completed), with the early repayment of the first expensive Memorandum, with such actions, we are now declining, we are removing a danger that existed. And who was he? From 2032 onwards the country is pressured to repay the debt due to increased costs of service, “National Economy and Finance and Finance Kyriakos Pierrakakis told his visit this week to the ODIX.
The key to this strategy are the high primary surpluses achieved by the budget on the one hand due to high growth rates and on the other due to measures to restrict the tax evasion taken in recent years.
The primary surplus of 2024 amounted to record levels, at 4.8% of GDP or EUR 11.4 billion, significantly exceeding the initial budget forecast. For 2025, the Government and the Bank of Greece have already reviewed up the initial estimate of this year’s budget to 3.2% of GDP from 2.4%, and there are well -valid expectations that by the end of the year this provision will be revised at even higher levels.
Based on this data, it is expected that in 2025 the general government’s debt will follow a strong downward course. The target is reduced to levels below 145% of GDP from 153.6% in 2024. In 2023, the general government’s debt was 163.9% of GDP and 2022 to 177% of GDP according to ELSTAT and Eurostat data.
Due to the high primary surpluses, the country’s cash available today is 44.1 billion euros in record. This is the security “pillow” that is the tool based on which the design of the faster debt decline has been drawn up.
The high -profile Greek state -owned cash available also allow the ODRN to move on targeted debt management issues.
