One is amazed at the audacity, but if one has indulged in the big mouths of the Mitsotakis government, one can easily see the distortion of reality. Just last Wednesday, the “tsar” of the Greek economy, Kostis Hatzidakis, gave an interview to Reuters and did not hesitate to call the Greek economy “Europe’s pleasant surprise”. K. Hatzidakis bases this bubble on investment-privatizations against a lentil board, tax-incentive GDP growth, tourism and the Golden Visa.
On the other hand, last Thursday the economic advisor of the Prime Minister Alexis Patelis and K. Hatzidakis himself informed us with posts: “Greece achieved the greatest improvement in the score of the business environment index compiled by the Economist” and is now 34th out of 91 Countries. Obviously, these two politicians who from their positions act as important players of the Mitsotakis government admire their work, which consists in strangling the citizens who pay the obscene profit that fuels the tax-inducing GDP growth.
Of course, due to the complete lack of control, there is an increase in profits of more than 300% in certain companies and certain sectors. How can the Mitsotakis government and its advisers not applaud and call the hawks of neoliberalism to “invest”, since they have destroyed public health and public education so that there can be brave “investments” in a low-wage environment?
Survival conditions
This begs the question: Is building South American-style societies in which the vast majority of the population – over 70% – lives in subsistence conditions to generate obscene profits for monopolies and fiscals through VATs a success? When in fact this “success” does not create solid foundations, but is based on a flow of loans and subsidies from community funds (Recovery Fund, NSRF, etc.) that will expire in 2026.
But the numbers tell
They talk about investments as if they don’t know what investments are being made in Greece. It’s as if they don’t know that the investments concern non-productive structures.
They celebrate while they have built palaces in the sand. All this results from agencies whose reliability is not in doubt.
In more detail:
- According to OECD data, in 2022 the average annual salary in Greece decreased by 1,046 euros compared to 2021 due to revaluations and accuracy. The average annual salary at constant prices (after the effect of inflation) decreased from 17,220 euros in 2021 to 16,174 euros in 2022, i.e. from 1,230 euros per month to 1,155 euros on a 14-month basis. It is clear that in 2023 things got worse, with food inflation in particular reaching almost double digits.
- According to Eurostat, the per capita income of Greeks in 2022 was measured at 23,800 euros, while in “poor” Turkey, where the pound is falling, it rose to exactly the same levels, i.e. 23,800 euros, in the same year.
- As for the investors who are flocking to invest in our country according to the airless K. Hatzidakis, it is enough to mention that any increase is based on real estate (20%), while on the contrary categories that are in the production engine, such as technology, show a decrease of the order of 12%.
- In the years when the community money flows (Recovery Fund and NSRF) even mechanical equipment shows a decrease of around 2%.
- As for the Golden Visa? During the three years, it has brought in 31,000 foreign “investors”, mainly Chinese (56% of approved applications) and Turkish (10% of approved applications), and about 3 billion euros. But all this is paid for by the Greek citizen, who faces a price explosion and a lack of housing.
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GDP per capita: And officially the Greece of the Mitsotakis government is at the bottom of Europe
#Government #brags #poverty #numbers #celebrate #troubled #growth
