Increased by € 339,912,290, of which € 220 million are related to the pandemic, is the total state budget of 2021, as it has been formed after the changes that have been made, in relation to the budget of 2021 that had been voted against. from the House of Representatives on December 17, 2020, according to a letter sent today by the Minister of Finance Konstantinos Petridis to the Speaker of Parliament Adamos Adamou.
In addition, the Minister of Finance states in his letter, which was secured by the KYPE, that the revised budget bill of 2021 has included the amendments put forward by the parliamentary parties during the debate that preceded the vote on the budget bill21. gathered a parliamentary majority.
Specifically, in his letter the Minister of Finance to the Speaker of Parliament conveys the request of the President of the Republic and the Council of Ministers that the state budget for 2021 and the Medium Term Fiscal Framework 2021-2023 be discussed and voted by Parliament through its procedure He stressed that “this will allow the state to continue to function in the particularly difficult conditions created by the pandemic”.
He states that “it is of utmost importance that the 2021 budget bill be accepted and voted by the Plenary of the House as it will ensure the proper functioning of the state, the support of employees, companies, as well as the implementation of actions for the implementation of actions of the Recovery and Resilience Fund “.
“The non-passage of the bill will not allow us to resort to the markets to raise the necessary liquidity to finance all the actions needed to support the economy,” he said.
Credits for the pandemic
In particular, in terms of measures to deal with the pandemic, additional appropriations of approximately € 220 million were included and relate to the following:
Summary of appropriations of € 200 million in the context of the need to support businesses and self-employed persons, due to the implementation of measures to address the ongoing pandemic, summary of appropriations of € 20 million to provide support for the wider economy if required and a summary of additional credits amounting to € 120,000 for the purchase of services for the operation of the Citizens' Telephone Service Center for the services offered by the Welfare Allowance Management Service and the Social Insurance Services.
In his letter to the Speaker of Parliament, the Minister of Finance states that the amendments submitted by the Government have been incorporated and were discussed in two sessions of the Parliamentary Committee on Finance and were put to a vote during the discussion of the Budget bill in the House. December 17 and which brought an increase in the appropriations of the original bill amounting to € 136,709.55 for 2021.
According to the letter of the Minister of Finance, the amendments of the parties included in the budget include those concerning the cutting of a percentage of 10% from various groups of expenditures with a total cost of € 21,374,265 and do not affect the budget of the Parliament, according to relevant provision of the Constitution.
It also states that additional funding of € 4,257,000 was included as humanitarian aid to Lebanon following the explosion in the port of Beirut and the devastation it caused in the Summer of 2020.
Finally, the Minister of Finance responds to the request of the parliamentary parties and political parties to discuss a series of their proposals concerning, among others, the introduction of the minimum wage, the minimum pension for low-income retirees, the possibility of retirement of people working in heavy occupations before retirement. , the issue of non-performing loans and sales and to take immediate measures to combat tax evasion.
Philenews / ΚΥΠΕ