Agricultural debts set to burden the state
The state will be taking over the financial commitments of the Hellenic Agricultural Insurance Organization (ELGA) and the Organization of Payments and Monitoring of Community Funding, Orientation and Guarantees (OPEKEPE), amounting to over 4 billion euros. The government tabled yesterday in Parliament an amendment that heeds the advice of Greece’s lenders within the context of stemming wasteful spending in the public sector. Crucially, this will increase the public debt by no less than 1.7 percent of gross domestic product. The ELGA debts that the state is undertaking total 3.012 billion euros, while those of OPEKEPE come to 1.01 billion euros and concern credit for the payment of subsidies to farmers. This is why they are considered debts of the state and not of the corporations themselves and have to be added to the central government’s debt. These amounts of money have been mostly drawn over the years by these corporations from ATEbank, as well as from the National Bank of Greece and Piraeus Bank.
