Athens - Prime Minister Antonis Samaras on Saturday said the first signs of growth were emerging in Greece, as the economy was expected to expand in the third quarter for the first time in eight years.
In a speech in the northern port city of Thessaloniki to launch the International Trade Fair, Samaras said that “although the debt is still high” it will soon be deemed sustainable.
Europe's statistics agency Eurostat has estimated that Greece's debt in 2013 exceeded 318 billion euros or 175.1 per cent of economic output, up from 304 billion in 2012.
“The debt has started to ease marginally and the drop will soon be greater when measured against gross domestic product,” Samaras added.
“In a couple of years, we have made more reforms than in previous decades,” he said.
The prime minister promised a number of tax breaks, including a 30-per-cent reduction im the taxation of heating oil, in a bid to win over austerity weary citizens and boost low approval ratings of his coalition government.
He also said changes to a controversial yearly property tax, which would be based on property values from before the start of the crisis were underway.
Samaras also said he would establish a development fund to help small-and medium-sized companies as well as cut electricity prices for industries.
While ruling out increases to wages and pensions, Samaras promised raises for both the military and police.
Samaras announced the measures without the final seal of approval by the European Union and International Monetary Fund (IMF) creditors, the Greek daily Kathimerini said.
The speech comes as private and public sector unions, GSEE and ADEDY, prepare to take to the streets later Saturday to protest austerity measures that the government has imposed as part of an international bailout.
Greek authorities have announced that they have banned demonstrations in many parts of Thessaloniki. But labour unions and left-wing groups have said the protests will go ahead outside the prohibited areas near the site of the fair.
The Greek government carried out a new round of meetings with EU and IMF creditors in Paris earlier this week, with negotations under the existing adjustment programme set to continue in the Greek capital later this month.
On Friday, some 2 000 police officers, firefighters and coast guard workers protested against pay cuts and government plans to merge their pension funds under an overhaul of the pension system.
Greece has been granted more than 240-billion-euros (310-billion-dollars) in bailout loans by the EU and IMF since 2010.
Sapa-dpa