Due to rising living costs: Greek government announces increase in minimum wage and pensions

Due to rising living costs
Greek government announces increase in minimum wage and pensions

09.09.2024, 17:52

Greece's government has announced an increase in the minimum wage and pensions from January 2025. Finance Minister Kostis Chatzidakis said pensions would rise by two to 2.5 percent. Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis had already assured on Saturday that the minimum wage would rise from the current 830 euros a month to 950 euros by 2027.

In total, the government has announced more than 20 measures in response to rising living costs, including reducing social security contributions and tax exemptions for empty houses or apartments. The government will quickly make a total of one billion euros available, the finance minister said on Monday. This is in addition to the 2.8 billion euros already announced for 2025 for social improvements – the EU Commission still has to release the money.

The left-wing opposition party Syriza criticized the measures as not being enough to offset inflation – the inflation rate in August was 2.7 percent compared to the previous year. Real household income is “shrinking rapidly.” The center-left newspaper “Ta Néa” commented: “Peanuts for pensioners.”

The standard of living in Greece is one of the cheapest in the EU. In 2023, according to the statistics agency Eurostat, the country had the second highest gross domestic product per capita in terms of purchasing power in the EU, and the average annual income was half the EU average.