Recovery Fund / 5.2 billion “flooding” – The actual absorption in Greece is only 12%

The amount of resources from the Recovery Fund that the government has not utilized remains particularly high, according to a new Focus Report of the Observatory of the Recovery & Resilience Fund “Greece 2.0” and NSRF 2014-2020 / 2021-2027, of the ENA Institute.

In more detail, based on the information made public, after the revision of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan “Greece 2.0” and taking into account that the total resources amount to 36 billion euros, the following dynamic is recorded:

– the amount of stagnant resources, i.e. the amount of resources available to the country that have not been activated through actions and programs, remains particularly high at €5.2 billion.

– the total of payments (expenses) amounts to €9.5 billion and includes accounting and actual costs. Accounting expenses are considered a) intermediate transfers of amounts between the accounts of the General Government bodies at the Bank of Greece, for the grants part, and b) credits to the cooperating banking institutions, for the loans part.

– the accounting costs amount to €5 billion and correspond to an (accounting) absorption of 26%.

– the real costs amount to €4.5 billion and correspond to a real absorption of 12%.

Total Resources of Revised Plan “Greece 2.0”

After the approval of the revised National Recovery and Resilience Plan “Greece 2.0”, on 05.12.2023, the total resources of the Plan increased by €5.8 billion, with the result that the total funding of the country amounts to €36 billion today.

Particularly:

– the part of non-refundable aid (grants) increased by €768,069,923 with the total amount equaling the maximum share of allocation to which the country is entitled, and now amounts to €18,220,378,076

– the loan component increased by €5 billion and now amounts to €17,727,538,920

Inflows – Disbursement of Plan Installments

The inflows of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan “Greece 2.0” up to 31.03.2024 amounted to €14.7 billion, of which €7.4 billion concern the grant component and €7.2 billion the component of loans.

The total inflows (disbursements) of the Plan correspond to 41% of the total resources (grants and loans).

In particular, until 31.03.2024, the initial advance payment has been disbursed as well as the first three partial payments (installments), both of the non-reimbursable support (grants) and of the loans.

On 17.04.2024, the 4th payment request was submitted to the European Commission, amounting to €2.3 billion and it concerns exclusively the loan part of the Plan. The request was submitted after reaching the goal of contractualization of loans amounting to €4.52 billion.

It is noted that, the disbursement of the partial payments (installments) of the non-refundable support (grants) section records a significant delay, as a result of delays in the implementation of the projects.

Outflows – Public Investment Program (PIP) Expenditures

The absorption rates during the A’ quarter of 2024 are:

– 12.59% for the national Plan as the costs amounted to €0.5 billion.

– 29.41% the national branch of the PDE

– 30.13% for the co-financed part of the PDE.

Outflows – Expenditures of Non-Reimbursable Aids (Grants) – “Greece 2.0”

The total resources of the grants section of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan “Greece 2.0” now amount to €18.2 billion, while the resources available to date (after disbursement of the advance payment and the first three installments) are 7, 5 billion euros. The dynamics of the implementation of the grants until 31.03.2024 is as follows:

– the total costs (payments) amount to 5.7 billion euros

– the accounting costs (payments) amount to 2.6 billion euros, while the total real costs (payments) are estimated at approximately 3.1 billion euros.

– the accounting absorption of the total resources of the plan is estimated at 31%, while the actual absorption is 17%.

Outflows – Loan Leg Expenditure – “Greece 2.0”

total resources of the loans part of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan “Greece 2.0” amount to €17.7 billion, while the resources available to date (after disbursement of the advance and the first three installments) are €7.2 billion €.

The total amount contracted until 31.03.2024 with the cooperating banking institutions corresponds to 74% of the available loan resources of the Plan.

It is noted that on 04/03/2024 an agreement was signed between the Greek State and ATTICA BANK SA. so that the loans of the Recovery and Resilience Fund “Greece 2.0” can also be granted by the bank in question.

According to the available data, 287 loans were contracted until March 2024. Their total budget amounts to €11.15 billion, of which €4.75 billion are loans from the Recovery Fund, €3.77 billion are bank loans and €2.63 billion are investors’ equity.

At the level of disbursement to the benefiting companies, a significant lag is recorded as, until 31.03.2024, the total withdrawals amount to €1.4 billion, an amount that corresponds to an accounting absorption of 21% of the total loan resources of the plan and an actual absorption of only 8 %.

The Focus Report