Dev. Min.: Power price hikes change support measures priorities

The good course of the economy creates more fiscal space to support more citizens was the message from the Minister of Development, Adonis Georgiadis, referring to the Prime Minister’s much awaited announcements at the Thessaloniki International Fair. Mr. Georgiadis added that “the increases in electricity prices force the government to change priorities in measures to support citizens”.

As he said, regarding the increases in electricity bills for September, announced by the energy providers and whether the state aid to households and businesses will increase accordingly, “the government will also be present in the new environment that is being formed for power prices”. He added, in fact, on the occasion of main opposition SYRIZA’s remark that in Greece we have the most expensive electricity in all of Europe, that except for Portugal and Spain, all other countries have more expensive electricity thanks to state subsidies.

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He posted a related table a little later on social media.

Οι τιμές του ρεύματος στις Χώρες της ΕΕ στις οποίες αναφερόμουν πριν λίγο στην τηλεόραση του ⁦@AntennaTV⁩ pic.twitter.com/ywcJDff2yy

— Άδωνις Γεωργιάδης (@AdonisGeorgiadi) August 22, 2022

Fuel

With reference to fuel prices, the Minister of Development stated that they have decreased according to international prices. “Those who predicted that the price of a liter of gasoline would reach 3 euros were not correct, but I who had been talking for a long time about the gradual de-escalation of prices was vindicated”, he said, among other things, adding that, during the summer, checks were carried out and fines were imposed on everyone even if they were selling slightly above the allowed profit margin.

Inflation

“We don’t have the highest inflation in Europe, as they say, but we are 6th in the EU,” Adonis Georgiadis said of inflation, which he attributed to the fact that, as he explained, last year we had the lowest inflation in all of Europe. “We could not have predicted that Putin would invade Ukraine. In July 2022, Greece had the biggest drop in inflation in all of Europe. We said that in the first half of 2022 we will have high inflation, but in the second half we will have low inflation and for the whole year the inflation will be similar to that of all EU countries.”

Overall, referring to the Greek economy, the Minister of Development commented that “Greece is going through the best tourism performance of all time, the best investment period of all time, the best export period of all time. The Greek economy is doing extremely well, beyond all expectations.”