Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis pledged that he will proceed with two successive minimum wage hikes in 2022, after the two percent rise decided for this year in July, noting that the economy’s growth rate will permit that, but the percentage will depend on the capabilities of businesses, the growth rate, and the decline in the rate of unemployment.

“We have an economy that is growing at a rate that surprised even us. We had an exceptional tourist season and that means more money in the pockets of employees and businesses. The level of bank deposits is very high in the middle of a pandemic. Why? It is because we supported the real economy,” the PM said in a no-holds-barred interview with MEGA television.

“I do not in any way want to reach a point that citizens feel that the GDP rise does not concern them. Certainly, the minimum wage is an extremely important issue. A two percent rise as of 1 January, 2022 has already been decided, and I am determined that go ahead with a second increase of the minimum wage.”

The PM said this will be done once we take into account the actual data concerning the economy, the real growth rate, and the capacity of businesses. “

“I would not at all like in a period when the unemployment rate is declining – which is a success of the Greek economy as it rose in the rest of the Eurozone – to impede that course,” he said.

“The most important intervention we can undertake today is to help our fellow citizens who are more vulnerable and unemployed to get a job.”

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