Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis is expected to announced another round of spending hikes for the coming year, mostly pension increases and even a higher monthly minimum wage, all in the shadow of a scheduled general election in the country next year.

Media reports out of Athens over the weekend were rife with speculation of social security increases of between 6 and 6.5 percent, beginning with the first payments of the year, in January 2023.

As with previous Greek premiers facing a tough election battle in the coming period, Mitsotakis is expected to allow “looser purse strings” during the annual state-of-the-economy address to inaugurate the Thessaloniki International Fair (TIF), which always comes in the first part of September.

If such hikes actually pan out, they would be the first in 12 years, as three memorandum bailouts were recorded in the interim, along with painful cuts in primary and supplementary pensions. Pensioners that would see increases are calculated at one million people in the country.

The same media reports said whatever increases will be dependent on the now surging inflation rate, which is just over the double-digit range.

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