Greece reported a mammoth 2024 primary budget surplus, thanks to higher tax revenues and a growing economy, according to newly released data by Eurostat and the Hellenic Statistical Authority (ELSTAT) on Tuesday, with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis unveiling a series of economic support measures aiming to provide economic relief to citizens.
The surplus amounted to 4.8 percent of Greece’s economic output last year, or 11.4 billion euros ($13.1 billion), making the country one of the few European Union nations to post a fiscal surplus, with most operating in deficit. By comparison, the Eurozone reported a collective deficit of 3.1 percent of GDP (Gross Domestic Product), while the EU average stood at 3.2 percent.
“The latest data that have just been announced by Eurostat and ELSTAT record a major outperformance of the national economy and a budget surplus. Something which means that with everyone’s efforts, we did better than expected,” Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said in a televised message.
“The dynamic growth, along with tackling tax evasion and a series of other structural reforms, brought revenues higher compared to the goals we had set. And so, despite the tight European fiscal rules, a serious part of it can now be returned to the Greek people,” he added, while outlining the new economic support measures.
Initially, Greece’s primary surplus for 2024 was forecast to be six billion euros ($6.9 billion) or 2.5 percent of GDP.
The surplus, amounting to 1.3 percent of Greece’s GDP, was mainly driven by a steady rise in public revenues—reaching 49.3 percent of GDP in 2024 from 48.2 percent the previous year.
At the Eurozone level, Greece, along with Denmark (+4.5 percent), Ireland and Cyprus (+4.3 percent each), Luxembourg (+1 percent) and Portugal (+0.7 percent) were the only countries to record a surplus.
Greece, according to the latest data, still carries the EU’s highest debt burden, with a public debt of 153.6 percent of GDP, far above the 60 percent limit set by the EU’s Stability and Growth Pact. However, the country recorded a 10 percent debt reduction from 163.9 percent of GDP in 2023.
Prime Minister Mitsotakis, during his televised message, said that the new economic support measures following Greece’s 2024 budget surplus are targeting the country’s middle class.
The measures, which were later specified by Minister of Economy Kyriakos Pierrakakis and are worth 1 billion euros ($1.15 billion), will be permanent and their implementation will begin this year.
Mitsotakis announced that tenants will be refunded one month’s payment in full every November “in order to alleviate the burden of their expenses.” The measure comes amid Greece’s growing housing crisis with the Greek population, according to research, currently spending more than 40 percent of their disposable income on housing costs, the most by far compared to any other European Union country, according to Eurostat.
Moreover, about 1.5 million low-income pensioners, uninsured elders and individuals with disabilities will be supported with a yearly 250-euro ($287) assistance bonus, while Greece’s Public Investments Program will be boosted with an additional 500 million euros ($574 million) in order to speed up public projects and social programs, which in turn will create additional jobs.
