By Tasos Dasopoulos
The Ministry of Finance expects a further increase in investment of 5.7 billion euros in 2024, bringing the total to 37.4 billion euros from the 31.7 billion expected at the end of 2023, an increase of around 90% compared to in 2019, when investments amounted to 19.6 billion euros.
The increase in investment to 16% of GDP in 2024, from the 15% of GDP expected this year, will be driven by the Public Investment Program, which will reach 12.1 billion euros, from 10.8 billion euros in 2023. Of this money, 3, EUR 6 billion will be allocated from the Recovery Fund, approximately EUR 6.6 billion will be projects co-financed from the NSRR, and approximately EUR 2.1 billion will be public investments that will be financed from purely national sources. In addition to the planned absorption of 3.6 billion euros from the Recovery Fund, additional expenses of 1.5 billion euros will appear, which did not happen last summer due to consecutive electoral contests.
The total cost of the PDE will reach 13.2 billion euros, an amount that does not include private investment of 2.2 billion euros, which is supported by low-interest loans from the recovery fund. Together with them, total investments amount to 15.4 billion euros in public spending, i.e. including only national and community resources. If you add to this the approx. 7.5-8 billion euros, which will be the contribution of private individuals who will participate in NSRR projects, the amount will reach 20.5 billion euros.
Also for 2024, a special part of the Public Investment Program will run at the end of the summer to restore infrastructure and damage caused by floods caused by Hurricane Daniel. For this reason, there is a separate project budget of 600 million euros.
Privatization
The next chapter of investments in 2024 will be privatizations, which are expected to generate revenues of 5.77 billion euros. From this money, the expected revenue from the tenders, for which binding offers were submitted with the expected first payment in 2024, amounts to 4.75 billion euros. The largest part of this money relates to the price of the 25-year Egnatia Road concession contract at the price of 3.27 billion euros, which has not been collected even once in 2023 and is estimated to enter the public purse in 2024.
From the ongoing tenders, which are expected to be completed during the next year, a price of 975.4 million euros is expected to be collected in 2024, while an amount of 46.2 million euros is expected from installment payments, completed transactions of previous years. .
Other investments
In addition to investments that are directly or indirectly linked to the public sector, private investments that were started in 2020 and 2021 are expected to continue and be completed next year, with a total budget of 4.505 billion euros.
Finally, real estate investments will continue to perform well next year, despite high market interest rates. In 2023, the market is expected to reach 5 billion euros, while a new record is expected for 2024, as it is estimated to exceed 6 billion euros.