Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis admitted, during a prime-time television interview on Monday evening, that the number one problem now facing citizens in the country is inflation and the high cost of living.
Mitsotakis appeared on Athens-based Star Channel, where he said prices on supermarket shelves remain “much higher than where they were three years ago.”
At the same time, he repeated his government’s leitmotif of surging inflation not being a “Greek phenomenon but a European one.”
He also again pledged that his center-right administration and Parliament majority will legislate an increase in the minimum monthly wage – in the private sector – with the intent of exceeding 800 euros. The latter promise, heard over last year’s pre-election campaign, has a four-year horizon for implementation, according to the government.
In echoing his ministers’ previous statements on the “inflation front”, he pointed to stepped up inspections by a development ministry market watchdog, restrictions on the profit margin for certain necessities, such as baby powder milk, as well as an initiative agreed to with super market chains, whereby they showcase and keep the lowest price on specific goods fixed for a week.
“I believe that we’re now at a point where the worst is behind us, without denying, however, that especially in food items, there’s a persistent inflation pressure of inflation,” he added.
