Greece's Ministry of National Economy and Finance’s Kotsiras confirms tax reform will apply normally and flags inspections against profiteering amid the Middle East crisis

Greece's Ministry of National Economy and Finance published an interview with Deputy Minister Giorgos Kotsiras outlining how the government is monitoring potential economic spillovers from the Middle East crisis and reiterating that the tax reform adopted by Parliament and incorporated in the Budget will be implemented as planned. Kotsiras pointed to ongoing regular inspections by the competent independent authority to deter and sanction any profiteering if prices rise, and said the state has fiscal and institutional tools to respond to persistent economic pressure if needed. He also linked Greece’s capacity to influence European-level crisis decisions to the assumption of the Eurogroup presidency by Minister Kyriakos Pierrakakis. On the tax package, he said employees and pensioners are already seeing higher income from the reduction in withholding tax from the start of the year, and highlighted planned reliefs linked to tax returns, including reductions in “living presumptions”, lower imputed income for freelancers in small settlements outside Attica, incentives for renting closed homes or converting short-term lets into long-term rentals, and a 50% reduction in ENFIA for residents in settlements of up to 1,500 inhabitants in the regions this year.