The Deputy Minister of Finance, Mr. Theodoros Skylakakis, speaking at a special event about the benefits of this development tool.

This is the third, in a row, event held by the Economic Chamber of Greece (ECG) , in cooperation with the Ministry of Finance and the Special Service for the Coordination of the Recovery Fund (EVSTA) , in the framework of an information campaign of economists, accountants and businesses on the Recovery Fund.

More specifically, with regard to the absorption of Greece 2.0 funds already exceeds 1.2 billion. euro.

Mr Skylakakis said:

"For 2022, by the end of June payments had approached 900 million euros, compared to 646 million euros, which was provided for in the budget. Additionally payments in 2021 amounted to 306.54 million euros".

He then gave illustrative examples of the projects, with a total budget of more than 11 billion euros, which have been included, for the time being, in "Greece 2.0". He spoke about those that "ran" (e.g. Home Savings, Digital Care), for those recently opened for applications (e.g. Digital transformation of small and medium-sized enterprises, Innovation and Green Transition in the Processing of Agricultural Products ), but also for a number of upcoming calls (e.g. manufacturing, agri-food, tourism, the new industrial parks, etc.).

The Deputy Finance Minister pointed out that Greece 2.0 emphasizes small and medium-sized enterprises. A high amount of the Recovery Fund subsidies are exclusively for them. At the same time, important reforms, such as tax incentives for mergers and amalgamations, have companies of these sizes as a key target group.

In addition, he referred to the high interest recorded in the Greece 2.0 loan programme, explaining that it concerns companies that have a bank profile or can acquire it in the next few years and that those investors who move quickly will receive a loan with a favourable interest rate, at 0.35%.

Mr Skylakakis referred to the investment plans that have received pre-approval from the banks for granting loans from the Recovery Fund, on favorable terms, as well as to those that have already been signed loan agreements. In the first category, 54 designs are included, and in the second 3 designs, respectively.

The 57 investments, with a total budget of €2.64 billion, are expected to be completed. euros They concern 30 different branches of economic activity. Of this amount, EUR 1.23 billion is still available. Euro are loans of the Recovery Fund:

• 890,33 million euros relate to a green transition
• 215,51 million euros in digital transformation
• 41,18 million euro in innovation-research-development
• 87,31 million euros in extroversion

Additionally 614,96 million euros is the equity of investors. At the same time in 796,64 million euros the participation of banks is formed.

At the same time, about 700 projects are being worked on. For these projects, the finalization of the applications by the interested investors is expected.