ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greece’s left-wing prime minister has promised crisis-weary voters a series of tax-relief measures before upcoming elections, after outperforming budget targets set by bailout creditors.
Alexis Tsipras said sales-tax reductions for household electricity use and for catering would take effect later this month, while additional relief measures would be introduced at the start of 2020.
Tsipras is trailing opposition conservatives in opinion polls before local government and European elections later this month and must call a national election by early October.
Greece’s budget performance in 2018 was better than expected, with a primary budget surplus, excluding debt servicing costs, of 4.4%, while creditors demanded a 3.5% surplus.
