Greek PM Tsipras promises tax-relief measures before upcoming elections

Greece’s left-wing Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras on Tuesday promised crisis-weary voters a series of tax-relief measures before upcoming elections, after outperforming budget targets set by bailout creditors.

Tsipras said sales-tax reductions for household energy bills and for food and catering would take effect later this month. Additional relief measures would be introduced at the start of 2020, easing some of the steep taxes imposed during three successive international bailouts.

The PM is trailing opposition conservatives in opinion polls – by double digits in some surveys – before local government and European elections later this month and a national election that must be held by early October.

The economy is expected to grow by 2.2 percent this year, but more than a third of Greeks still live in poverty or at risk of poverty, AP said.