Athens, March 30 (IANS): Greece is to raise its minimum monthly wage from 780 euros ($842) to 830 euros ($895) as of April 1, the fourth such increase over the past five years.

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, who made the announcement at a cabinet meeting on Friday, said the minimum wage has increased by 27.7 per cent from 586 euros since 2019, Xinhua news agency reported.

He also noted that the government aims to elevate the minimum wage to 950 euros by 2027 and the average salary to 1,500 euros.

During the Greek debt crisis (2009-2018), the minimum salary was reduced to 586 euros as a means of boosting the country's competitiveness.

Labor unions have argued that the government's "corrections" were not adequate for low-income earners to cope with inflationary pressures.

However, the government cautioned that a sudden leap to higher salaries would impose unbearable burden on businesses that were still struggling with the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and energy crisis.

"With our decision, we support employees without adding much burden on production costs and jeopardising the reduction of unemployment rates," Mitsotakis said.(1 euro = $1.08)