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Greece’s Fiscal Surplus Narrows In 2025 As Government Spending Rises

by THEFUTURE.TEAM

March 5, 2026

Overview Of Fiscal Balance And Performance

The Greek General Government recorded a fiscal surplus of €939.2 million between January and December 2025, equivalent to 2.6% of GDP. The figure is lower than the €1,439.3 million surplus, or 4.1% of GDP, reported during the same period in 2024. Revenue growth continued during the year, while higher public spending reduced the overall surplus compared with the previous year.

Revenue Growth And Sectoral Shifts

Total government revenue increased by €864.8 million in 2025, rising 5.9% to €15,615.2 million from €14,750.3 million in 2024.

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Income and wealth taxes rose by €341.3 million, or 9%, reaching €4,146 million compared with €3,804.7 million a year earlier. Social contributions increased by €358.7 million, or 7.9%, totaling €4,878.7 million.

Interest and dividend income rose by €37.4 million, or 30.4%, reaching €160.3 million. Taxes on production and imports increased slightly by €14 million, or 0.3%. Net VAT revenue declined by €52.8 million, or 1.7%.

Sales of goods and services generated €159.6 million more in revenue, representing a 17.9% increase to €1,049.4 million. Current transfers rose by €27.9 million, or 7.1%, to €421.1 million. Capital transfers declined by €74.1 million, or 22%, to €262.9 million.

Rising Government Expenditures

Government spending increased by €1,364.9 million in 2025, rising 10.3% to €14,675.9 million compared with €13,311 million in 2024. Personnel costs, including estimated social security contributions and public sector pensions, rose by €253.3 million, or 6.5%, reaching €4,131.2 million.

Social benefits increased by €382.3 million, or 7.2%, totaling €5,686 million. Intermediate consumption rose by €136 million, or 9.3%, to €1,600.8 million. Current transfers also increased, rising by €77.8 million, or 9.2%, to €920.2 million.

Capital Expenditure And Debt Costs

Capital expenditure recorded the largest increase during the year. The capital account rose by €562.1 million, or 46.6%, reaching €1,767.2 million.

Growth was driven by fixed capital investment, which increased by €242.6 million, or 25.1%, to €1,207.3 million. Other capital transfers also expanded, rising by €319.5 million from €240.4 million.

Interest payments on government debt declined by €27 million, or 6.1%, reaching €418.7 million. Subsidies also fell, decreasing by €19.6 million, or 11.4%, to €151.8 million.

Data Reporting Notes

Greece’s statistical authority reported that estimates were used for certain entities within the General Government sector, particularly within local government, due to incomplete data submissions from the relevant authorities.

The Future Forbes Realty Global Properties

Anthropic Launches Claude Fable 5 With New AI Safety Controls

New Model Sets The Bar For AI Safety And Efficiency

Anthropic has launched Claude Fable 5, the latest public version of its Mythos model, expanding access to a system designed for software engineering, knowledge work and computer vision tasks. The company said high-risk requests involving areas such as cybersecurity, biology, chemistry and AI model distillation will be redirected to Claude Opus 4.8, which has been configured with additional safeguards.

Strategic Rollout And Broader Accessibility

Mythos was initially made available to a limited group of partners in April as Anthropic evaluated potential cybersecurity risks associated with the model. Access was expanded last week to hundreds of organisations across 15 countries, primarily those operating critical infrastructure. Claude Fable 5 is now available through Anthropic’s Claude API and usage-based Enterprise plans. Early access has also been included in selected subscription tiers ahead of a broader pricing rollout scheduled for June 23.

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Advancing Safety And Industry Standards

Anthropic said the model underwent extensive safety testing before release, including bug bounty programmes and red-team exercises conducted by external organisations. According to the company, more than 1,000 hours of testing did not identify any universal jailbreak vulnerabilities.

A mandatory 30-day data retention policy will apply to all traffic processed by the model, including accounts that previously operated under zero-retention agreements. Anthropic said the measure is intended to improve monitoring and protection against emerging security threats.

Outstanding Performance And Competitive Pricing

Independent evaluations, including testing by analytics company Hex, reported strong performance in complex reasoning and analytical tasks. Companies, including Base44 and Genspark, highlighted improvements in tool use and interface design capabilities. Pricing has been set at $10 per million input tokens and $50 per million output tokens, compared with lower rates for previous models. Some enterprise customers, including Rakuten, said the model’s ability to verify aspects of its own output could help improve efficiency in tasks that require higher levels of accuracy.

Implications For The AI Market

The release comes as Anthropic prepares for a potential public market debut, and competition among leading AI developers continues to intensify. Alongside performance improvements, the company has placed significant emphasis on model safety, reflecting broader industry concerns around misuse, jailbreak attempts and the risks associated with increasingly capable AI systems.