The number of non-performing loans has decreased significantly, Alternate Finance Minister Nikos Papathanasis said during the discussion in the competent committee of the Parliament of the “New Development Program of Public Investments.”
Responding to the harsh criticism he received from deputies from all opposition parties, who accused the government of abolishing all protection measures for vulnerable social groups, leaving them at the mercy of banks, Papathanasis rejected their objections, arguing that “with the initiatives he took, the percentage of bad loans, which exceeded 40% in 2019, was reduced to 7.5% in 2024.”
In total, non-performing loans amounted to 92.2 billion euros in 2020-2021 while in the first quarter of 2024, they decreased to 70.4 billion euros.
In 2019, non-performing loans were approximately 50% of the total amount of loans in the economy, while today this percentage has dropped significantly to 32%, Papathanasis said and added:
“This improvement is very important and is of course recognized by many international rating agencies, because every upgrade essentially means a reduction in our debt service and this gives the state fiscal room.”
He also referred to the ministry’s draft law. More specifically, he said that four are the basic features of the bill: speed, transparency, efficiency and public accountability.
He also pointed out that this year the Public Investment Program has been increased by 900 million euros.
“The Public Investment Program is the main source of funding for our country’s development policy and contributes decisively to maintaining primary surpluses […] It is an umbrella that includes all European tools and the national participation of European tools as well as the national arm of the National Development Program.”
“The Public Investment Program has been enhanced with 900 million euros this year while the total amount channeled into the Greek economy has increased to 13.1 billion euros from 12.2 billion euros. In 2025 we plan to reach 14.4 billion euros and 15.9 billion euros in 2026,” he underlined.
Finally, Papathanasis reassured that the Medium-term Fiscal Program 2025-2028 will soon come to the Parliament, underlining that Greece has left behind the difficult years.
