Greece Archives - Pension Policy International

14MarMarch 14, 2025

Greece. BoG: The value of occupational pension fund assets increased by €80 million

The total value of Occupational Pension Fund (hereafter referred to as “Funds“) assets increased by €80 million compared to the previous quarter, reaching €2.508 billion at the end of Q4 2024. More specifically, the total deposits of the Funds saw a €7 million increase, reaching €73 million at the end of Q4 2024. The proportion of deposits in relation to total assets stood at 2.9%, compared to 2.7% in the previous quarter. The value of total investments in debt securities rose to €1.123 billion at the end of Q4 2024, up from €1.108 billion in the previous quarter....

March 14, 2025

News, SliderGreece, Occupational Pensions

11FebFebruary 11, 2025

Greece. Pension boost for working retirees

Thousands of Greek retirees who continue working are seeing an increase in their pensions, as the country’s social security fund (EFKA) has started issuing adjusted payments. To prevent these new pensions from facing higher deductions under the Solidarity Contribution for Pensioners (EAS), the Ministry of Labor and Social Security is preparing a legislative amendment that could soon be introduced in Parliament. According to sources, the proposed amendment ensures that if a retiree’s primary pension is already subject to the EAS, the...

February 11, 2025

News, SliderGreece, Income

17AprApril 17, 2024

Greece. Viable social security system, but only on low pensions

The sustainability of the social security system is considered assured until the distant 2070, according to a new study by the National Actuarial Authority submitted to the competent department of the European Commission. There is, of course, a very important and highly mandatory condition: That nothing changes in terms of the so-called “parametric changes,” i.e. retirement age limits, amount and method of calculating benefits, etc. And, of course, an equally disappointing finding, that Greece has a sustainable system, but insufficient...

April 17, 2024

NewsGreece, Pension design, Social Security

09NovNovember 9, 2022

Inflation taking ever bigger bite out of Greek retirees’ pension income

Pensioners in Greece are struggling to make ends meet as galloping inflation and high energy prices take a toll on household budgets. After they lost an average of 25 percent of their income during the Greek debt crisis-related bailouts (2010-2018), the recent jumps in food and heating costs take their anxiety up a notch. During a recent interview granted to Xinhua in a cafe in central Athens, Christos Vassilopoulos, 82, was adding up his monthly bills while sipping his coffee. The...

November 9, 2022

NewsAdequacy, Greece, Public Pensions

12SepSeptember 12, 2022

Greek PM says pensions to rise for first time in more than a decade

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said on Saturday the minimum wage would rise again next year and pensions would be increased for the first time since the financial crisis erupted more than a decade ago. During his annual economic policy speech from the northern city of Thessaloniki, Mitsotakis said about 1.5 million pensioners would benefit from the increase. Read also Demographic change impacting asset allocation The conservative premier, who faces parliamentary elections in 2023, also announced a 1.8 billion euros ($1.8 billion)...

September 12, 2022

NewsGreece, Public Pensions

06JulJuly 6, 2022

Greece to allow pension increases from 2023, first since debt crisis- PM

Greece's Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis promised pension increases for the first time in more than a decade next year, saying Greece had definitively turned a page from the financial chaos which required three international bailouts. During its decade-long financial crisis that broke out in 2009, Greece was forced by its international lenders to slash pensions more than 10 times to reduce state spending and meet its fiscal targets. "Everyone must benefit from growth without threatening the fiscal balance or the country's...

July 6, 2022

News2022, Greece, Public Pensions

25MayMay 25, 2022

Greece. First year of pension increases after 12 years

“Next year will be the first year of increasing pensions for the first time, after 12 years,” Deputy Labor and Social Affairs Minister Panos Tsakloglou said in an interview with the Athens-Macedonian News Agency on Sunday, noting that the government has supported the income of pensioners in several ways. Tsakloglou also referred to the challenges he was called to face when he took over the post and focused on the emblematic, as he characterized it, reform in the architecture of...

May 25, 2022

News2022, Greece, Public Pensions

11FebFebruary 11, 2022

Reforming the Greek Pension System

By Daehaeng Kim, Alvar Kangur & Niki Kalavrezou The Greek pension system has been costly, complex, and distortive, which has contributed to Greece’s fiscal problems and discouraged labor force participation. Several attempts to reform the system faltered due to lack of implementation, pushback by vested interests, and court rulings leading to reversals. A series of reforms introduced throughout 2015–17 unified benefit and contribution rules, removed several distortions and reduced fragmentation and costs. If fully implemented throughout the long-term, these reforms...

February 11, 2022

Articles, Pension design, System Sustainability2022, Greece, Pension Reform

23NovNovember 23, 2021

Low-income Greek pensioners to get one-off grant to buffer price surge

ATHENS- Greece will hand out one-off grants to low-income pensioners and medical staff ahead of Christmas to shield them from higher energy and food prices, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said on Monday. Consumer inflation hit a multi-year high of 3.4% in October with costs in the housing sector rising by an annual 7.8%, mainly due to rising electricity, heating oil and natural gas prices. The government has already spent about 700 million euros ($790 million)on subsidies for the majority of Greek...

November 23, 2021

News, Slider2021, COVID-19, Greece, Income, Public Pensions

22OctOctober 22, 2021

Greece on its Way to Becoming Fastest Aging Country in the EU

The population decline in Greece, which has been steady since 2011, will lead the country to having the oldest people in the EU by 2030. That is the conclusion of a report by Eurostat, the EU statistics agency, about the declining population in the Union. If the report’s predictions come true, Greece will take the aging lead over Italy in the EU. With half of Greeks already over 50 years old, EU Commission estimates that the country’s population will decrease...

October 22, 2021

News, Slider2021, Aging, Greece

March 2025

Greece. BoG: The value of occupational pension fund assets increased by €80 million

February 2025

Greece. Pension boost for working retirees

April 2024

November 2022

Inflation taking ever bigger bite out of Greek retirees’ pension income

September 2022

Greek PM says pensions to rise for first time in more than a decade

July 2022

Greece to allow pension increases from 2023, first since debt crisis- PM

May 2022

Greece. First year of pension increases after 12 years

February 2022

Reforming the Greek Pension System

November 2021

Low-income Greek pensioners to get one-off grant to buffer price surge

October 2021

Greece on its Way to Becoming Fastest Aging Country in the EU