Without … consequences for now, public sector entities continue to leave their private suppliers, taxpayers, and pensioners unpaid, with hospitals remaining the biggest debtors.
Despite EU recommendations for the elimination of debts and subsequently government efforts to …reduce liabilities - in order also to limit the liquidity problem created mainly for small and medium-sized enterprises that do business with hospitals, insurance funds, ministries, Local Government Organizations and other public sector entities- the debt problem remains acute.
The government’s economic staff is now “betting” on the new “Consistency” platform, which is expected to become operational by the end of 2026 with the aim of transparency and oversight regarding the public sector’s overdue debts to private parties.
The new “tool” will collect, record, and publicly display in real time the progress of payments by state entities to the market. Any interested party will be able to see: which public sector invoices have been paid, which remain unpaid or pending, and which entity owes money and how much.
Public exposure
The basic philosophy of the platform is the public “exposure” of those entities that delay their payments.
Until today, the debts of entities were hidden behind general and vague statistical data. From now on, the platform will bring to light the identity of the inconsistent entity and the administration of each entity will be directly exposed both to the government and to public opinion for its managerial incompetence, with whatever that entails for the administrations.
In short, public sector organizations that systematically delay payments will be placed on a “blacklist”.
Officials of the Ministry of National Economy and Finance (YPETHO) note that the need for this specific platform is enormous, as it concerns invoices worth billions of euros.
It is characteristic that by the end of August 2026, 265,000 public sector invoices had already been recorded, with a total value of 22.6 billion euros, since the beginning of the year, with the start of mandatory implementation.
Unpaid invoices
At the end of July 2026, the state owed more than 3.2 billion euros to businesses, suppliers, taxpayers, and pensioners, despite the reduction of 118 million euros recorded from month to month.
As shown by the latest data published by the General Accounting Office of the State, liabilities fell to 2.646 billion euros from 2.764 billion euros in June.
However, pending tax refunds amounting to 629 million euros must also be added to the bill, bringing the total amount that the public sector still owes to 3.275 billion euros.
In more detail, the “map” of public sector debts to private parties, at the end of July, was shaped as follows:
- Public hospitals owe 1.235 billion euros to suppliers, an amount lower by 70 million euros compared to June 2026, when liabilities had reached 1.305 billion euros. This development shows that the de-escalation of recent months is continuing; however, the level of liabilities remains particularly high and continues to create significant pressure on businesses that cooperate with the public health system.
- The liabilities of insurance funds amounted to 681 million euros, reduced by 34 million euros compared to the 715 million euros of June, with a significant part of the pending amounts linked to the awarding of pensions. Although e-EFKA has significantly accelerated the process and the average time for awarding a main and supplementary pension has been reduced to about 40 days, there are still cases that require more time, especially when the insured person has consecutive or parallel insurance periods or participation in more supplementary Funds.
- The overdue obligations of Local Government Organizations stood in July at 326 million euros, from 333 million euros in June. The reduction is limited; however, it shows that the effort to repay old obligations by municipalities and regions is continuing.
- The debts of Legal Entities stood at 237 million euros, from 243 million euros in June.
Delays in tax refunds
Pending tax refunds decreased by 159 million euros in July and amounted to 629 million euros from 788 million euros in June. Of the total amount of pending tax refunds:
- 181 million euros concern direct taxes, 320 million euros indirect taxes, 121 million euros non-tax revenues, and 6 million euros other taxes.
- 254 million euros concern refunds delayed by more than 90 days. Of this amount, 161 million euros have not been returned to beneficiaries due to lack of supporting documents or inability to contact taxpayers. Thus, the Independent Authority for Public Revenue (AADE) is searching for thousands of citizens in order for the procedures to be completed and for them to be paid the amounts they are entitled to.
- 375 million euros are pending for a period of less than 90 days.