The Public Investment Program, including funds disbursed by the European Union’s Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF), pumped €11.2 billion into the economy, Alternate Finance Minister Nikos Papathanasis said Wednesday.
Compared to the outlays projected in the 2023 budget, there was a lag due mostly to lower RRF disbursements, €2.089 billion instead of the expected €3.662 billion.
The Parliament’s Budget Office attributed the lag to the extended electoral campaign period for the successive May and June national elections which negatively affected investment activity.
The state spent an extra €800 million (€9.111 billion instead of €8.3 billion projected in the budget) because of extra outlays to cover needs created by the disastrous September floods in the region of Thessaly (€450 million) and for the implementation of projects co-funded by the EU through the National Strategic Reference Framework (NSRF). This spending went to projects funded by the 2014-20 NSRF and delayed in order to avoid having the earmarked EU funds cancelled.
The Finance Ministry said Wednesday that the 2014-20 NSRF program was implemented in its entirety, with no funding lost: €23.4 billion were spent on public infrastructure, private investment plans and actions on employment and social cohesion.
The Finance Ministry estimates that, after all spending on NSRF-funded programs by Dec. 31, 2023, is recorded, it will emerge that all action areas actually spent more than initially projected.
