In an extensive and particularly forceful statement, the Ministry of National Economy and Finance has responded to the intervention by ELAS (the Hellenic Left) regarding the course of the Greek economy, seeking to counter the 20 key claims made by Alexis Tsipras’ party concerning the government’s track record for the period 2019–2026.
The Ministry’s statement presents its own perspective, countering with “20 truths” aimed at dismantling the opposition’s arguments about the country’s fiscal trajectory. Specifically, the Ministry of Finance argues that ELAS’s criticism is based on “distortions, inaccuracies and a misleading reading of the data,” presenting economic figures on growth, employment, wages, public debt, investment, taxation, competitiveness and private debt.
The Ministry also points out that Alexis Tsipras himself, in a recent interview, acknowledged that “the Greek economy has been overperforming” since 2019. “However, because today he once again attempted to muddy the waters with distortions and inaccuracies, we respond with facts, point by point, on every issue,” the Ministry states, emphasizing that “for every piece of misinformation they put out, there are facts. For every false claim, there is real data.”
Ministry of Finance: ELAS’s 20 “myths” and 20 truths about the Greek economy
RESPONSE:
Under SYRIZA’s governance, Greece was last in growth among European Union member states. During 2015–2018, the average annual growth rate was just 0.8%, compared to 2.1% in the Eurozone — ranking 27th out of 27.
From 2019 to 2025, the picture reversed completely. Despite successive international crises, Greece recorded cumulative growth of 10.8% in real terms, compared to 6.5% in the Eurozone.
Even the figures they cite are sloppy: they claim €70 billion from the Recovery Fund, when the actual amount allocated to Greece is approximately €36 billion.
Most importantly, growth has reached society. Since 2019, nearly 600,000 new jobs have been created and unemployment has fallen from 17.3% to 8.9% — almost halved.
Net wages per employee have increased by 32%, while the minimum wage has risen by 41.5%. This means that the average net wage has grown approximately 8% above inflation, and the minimum wage approximately 18% above inflation.
The comparison with the Tsipras era is revealing: from 2014 to 2019, wages per employee fell by 6.8% in nominal terms and 8.1% in real terms.
The real picture is clear: under SYRIZA, stagnation and falling incomes; under New Democracy, higher growth, more jobs and a meaningful increase in disposable income.
2. Competitiveness is deteriorating. The trade deficit has surged from €1.7 billion to €11 billion — that’s +€9.3 billion. Even international indices show Greece falling in competitiveness rankings.
RESPONSE:
The claim that the competitiveness of the Greek economy is deteriorating is refuted by the data itself.
Across all major international competitiveness indices, Greece has significantly improved its position. In The Economist Intelligence Unit Business Environment Ranking, the country climbed from 61st place in 2019 to 34th in 2025. Similarly, in the IMD World Competitiveness Ranking, it improved from 58th to 50th place.
As for the trade deficit, reading it out of context is misleading. Its increase is primarily linked to higher imports of capital goods due to strong investment activity.
This is clearly reflected in investment figures: from €20.3 billion in 2019, investment is estimated to reach €46.3 billion in 2026, with the investment-to-GDP ratio rising from 11% to 17.7%. Foreign direct investment, accordingly, increased from €4.5 billion in 2019 to €11.4 billion in 2025.
The data shows the opposite of what SYRIZA claims: the Greek economy is becoming more competitive and more attractive to investors.
3. The surplus is built on the back of the cost-of-living crisis. The primary surplus rises from 3.8% to 4.9% of GDP. This is not a “management success.” It is the result of higher taxes and everyday price pressures.
RESPONSE:
Unlike the surpluses achieved under Tsipras — built on the back of 30 tax hikes or new tax impositions and conditions of economic stagnation — the surpluses from 2019 onwards stem from growth, rising employment, reduced government borrowing costs and a significant crackdown on tax evasion.
Greece is recording fiscal surpluses while simultaneously implementing 83 tax cuts, with the economy growing at rates significantly above the European average.
Furthermore, following the major tax relief measures of 2026 and support measures in response to the energy crisis, the primary surplus is projected to fall from 4.9% in 2025 to 3.2% in 2026.
4. VAT is funding the success story. VAT revenues have increased by +€8.1 billion. This is not growth — it means every household is paying more for the same goods.
RESPONSE:
VAT revenues are increasing due to GDP and consumption growth, a significant rise in tourism, and a reduction in the VAT gap — in other words, a crackdown on tax evasion.
More specifically, from 2019 to 2025: (a) the VAT gap, i.e. tax evasion, has decreased from 24% to 9%; (b) real consumption, adjusted for inflation, has increased by 15.1%; and (c) travel receipts have increased by 30%.
5. Taxes are rising even as the government claims they are falling. Income and property tax revenues have increased by +€10.6 billion. So the claim that “the tax burden is falling” does not hold up in reality.
RESPONSE:
This is a characteristic example of the ignorance displayed by ELAS officials: they confuse an increase in tax revenues driven by economic growth and the fight against tax evasion with a supposed increase in taxes. Under the Mitsotakis government, 83 direct and indirect taxes have been cut, whereas under Alexis Tsipras, 30 taxes were raised or newly imposed.
It is self-evident that income tax rates have been drastically reduced, as have social security contributions (by 5.4%) and the property tax ENFIA (by 35%). Taxes are going down and wages are going up.
6. The debt is not falling. Public debt has risen from €339 billion to €363 billion. The reduction as a share of GDP is an accounting measure, not a real debt reduction.
RESPONSE:
This is yet another textbook example of economic illiteracy. Clearly, neither the markets nor the credit rating agencies agree — both of which have recorded as a major achievement of the Greek economy the fastest reduction in public debt in Europe’s economic history, by nearly 63 percentage points over the past five years. As a result, Greece has regained investment-grade status, having been reduced to junk bond territory under Tsipras.
7. The success story is built on inflation. The reduction in debt-to-GDP from 183% to 146% is not a policy success. It is the result of inflation and an increase in nominal GDP.
RESPONSE:
The reduction in public debt is primarily due to economic growth that far exceeds the Greek government’s borrowing costs, and to the primary surpluses generated by strong growth and reduced tax evasion. Even in nominal GDP terms, debt has been falling in recent years — from €364 billion in 2021 (post-pandemic) to €357 billion in 2026 — which is exceedingly rare for a growing economy. We would recommend that Mr. Tsipras’s team refresh whatever knowledge they may have of second-year macroeconomics.
8. The state owes more to its citizens. Government arrears have increased from €2 billion to €3.3 billion. In other words, the state that supposedly “got its house in order” and increased revenues is paying its citizens worse.
RESPONSE:
As stated in both the budget and the execution bulletins, the above figure of €3.3 billion includes amounts of €1.4 billion in pharmaceutical clawback and rebate that are periodically offset once the relevant certifications are issued. The actual overdue amounts — excluding these sums that are offset against pharmaceutical companies’ obligations to the state — stood at €1.9 billion in December 2025 (similar to 2019), at a time when annual general government expenditure has risen from €88 billion in 2019 to €120 billion in 2025 and €131 billion in 2026.
9. Poverty is increasing. The population at risk of poverty has risen from 18% to 19.5%. In other words, growth never reached society.
RESPONSE:
The claim that poverty is increasing is yet another misleading reading of the data, as it confuses relative with absolute poverty.
The relative poverty rate stood at 19.6% in 2025. However, this does not mean that citizens have become poorer. The poverty threshold rose by 43%, from €8,195 to €11,700, because overall incomes in the economy increased. The average annual disposable household income rose during the same period from €16,147 to €21,724.
The real picture is captured by absolute poverty, i.e. when measured against a fixed reference threshold. According to ELSTAT itself, this rate fell from 17.9% in 2019 to 11.3% in 2025.
In plain terms, one in three fellow citizens who would have been considered poor under the 2019 criteria is no longer poor today.
10. The economy has not changed its model. Despite investment, the country remains dependent on imports and low-value-added activities. The productive model has not changed.
RESPONSE:
Greece’s economic model is changing. First, the foundations of growth (fiscal, financial, level of competition) have improved. This is reflected in the composition of GDP, where investment has risen from 11% of GDP in 2019 to nearly 17% in 2025. Similarly, exports of goods and services have doubled from 20% of GDP pre-crisis to 40%, continuing to grow at rates above consumption and GDP. Third, the productive base of the Greek economy is shifting, with industry and manufacturing increasing their share of GDP and employment. Fourth, total factor productivity is growing at twice the EU rate and three times the Eurozone rate since 2019. Fifth, Greek production of goods and services is increasingly shifting towards higher-value-added sectors, as evidenced by the significant growth in high-technology exports.
11. Protection of primary residences was abolished. Law 4738/2020 put an end to meaningful protection of primary residences. We moved from protection to wholesale liquidation.
RESPONSE:
As is well known, the protection of primary residences expired in February 2019 under the Tsipras government, which also introduced electronic auctions. Moreover, under the SYRIZA government, Law 3869/2010 was succeeded by another law with very limited borrower protection — Law 4605/2019 — which had minimal impact.
In contrast, the out-of-court settlement mechanism, which has restructured debts exceeding €19 billion, provides meaningful protection to citizens with genuine payment difficulties.
12. Private debt is skyrocketing. From €367 billion to €407.6 billion — that’s +€40 billion. The problem is not only unsolved; it is growing.
RESPONSE:
The figure of €407.6 billion includes performing loans and demonstrates that credit expansion took place under the New Democracy government. In fact, since 2019, non-performing private debt as a share of total private debt has fallen significantly by almost 13 percentage points, closing at 57% in the fourth quarter of 2025, reflecting the restoration of orderly debt servicing. Additionally, Greece’s private debt-to-GDP ratio for 2024, according to Eurostat data, stood at 94.5%, below the EU-27 average of 121.4% for the same year. Greece ranks below the EU average, in 16th place (in descending order) for this indicator.
13. Non-performing loans were simply transferred elsewhere and left on borrowers’ backs. From €92 billion to €82.6 billion, but a large portion was moved to servicers. The debt was not reduced — it just changed hands. Only bank balance sheets were cleaned up.
RESPONSE:
The improvement in non-performing loan figures held by both banks and servicers is proven by the numbers: non-performing loans to financial institutions amount to €72.65 billion for Q4 2025 (€5.68 billion held by banks and €66.97 billion by servicers), down from €99.7 billion in 2018 (€81.8 billion held by banks and €17.9 billion by servicers) — a reduction of more than €27 billion in absolute terms.
14. Citizens owe more to the state. Debts to the tax authority have increased from €105.6 billion to €114.5 billion. In other words, the era of “normality” is generating new debts.
RESPONSE:
Of the €114.2 billion in over
