ATHENS – There was nowhere to go but up after two devastating years of COVID-19 that brought lockdowns and businesses closed for months but Greece’s tax revenues are set to show an impressive comeback in 2022.

The estimate is that they will be 47 billion euros ($49.47 billion) higher than the previous year when the country was trying to crawl out of the depths of the 2020 depression that saw revenues cave.

Hundreds of thousands of private sector workers will start paying tax deductions as of May 1 after the 7.5 percent hike to the minimum wage and workers and enterprises will face higher taxes this year as well, said Kathimerini.

Then there’s the big bonus of tourists starting to arrive in such big numbers that the hopes are that it will hit a level of 80 percent compared to the record year of 2019 before the pandemic dropped like a shroud.

The only area set to do worse, it was reported, is special consumption taxes, which are levies that depend on consumption that is falling behind because of soaring prices and inflation.

In April the Finance Ministry recorded a decline in the consumption tax on fuel, to be reflected on the budget data for the year’s first four months.The budget deficit will be higher than originally projected but because of increased expenditures and not revenue shortfalls.