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With inflationary pressures hitting red every day and households and businesses in a tight spot, the Council of Ministers announced yesterday a series of measures to alleviate the problem of price increases.
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Specifically, it decided support measures for the vulnerable groups of the population, pensioners and farmers, with the total cost of these measures amounting to 103 million euros. It is noted that the 103 million euros is a separate amount from the 192 million euros received by the government due to the pandemic.
It is noteworthy that the measures are expected to benefit 165,200 retirees as from July increase pensions by an average of 4.3%, with a total cost of adjustment of € 34 million.
Vulnerable {
The measures announced by the Minister of Finance Konstantinos Petridis also include vulnerable groups of the population. Specifically:
- Lump sum payment of 150 euros for each child up to 18 years old. This measure will benefit 6,639 households that have dependent children under 18 years of age and have an annual gross income of the previous year up to 10 thousand euros.
- Households with dependent children and annual gross income from 10,001 to 19,500 euros . These families will be paid a lump sum of 120 euros for each minor child. 13,008 households will benefit from this measure.
- The third measure concerns 1,804 households with incomes from 19,501 to 29,000 euros with three or more children. These families will be paid a lump sum of 100 euros for the third and each additional child under the age of 18.
- Another measure concerns 1,587 households with income criteria from 29,001 to 39,000 euros, with three or more children, to which a lump sum of 80 euros will be paid for the third and each additional child up to 18 years.
- The fifth measure concerns 1,037 households with income criteria from 39,001 to 49,000 euros, annual gross income, with three or more children, to whom a lump sum of 60 euros will be paid for the third and for each additional child up to 18 years old.
- It is noted that about 24,075 families and 45,883 children will benefit from the above categories.
- For households eligible for SEN or public assistance without dependent children under the age of 18, a lump sum of EUR 100 will be paid for each beneficiary, EUR 50 for the beneficiary's spouse and EUR 25 for each child of the beneficiary. The measure is expected to benefit 18,454 beneficiaries, 2,401 beneficiaries and 2,232 spouses of applicants.
- Additional measures concern the support of care services to children up to 4 years of age to subsidize their tuition fees in kindergartens. The measure will support 16 thousand beneficiaries with a monthly amount of allowance that will cover 80% of tuition and feeding with a subsidy of 100 to 300 euros per month for each child based on criteria. The measure will take effect from September 2022.
- People with disabilities who do not fall into the above categories, who are beneficiaries of benefits from the Department of Social Integration of People with Disabilities (blind, quadriplegic, paraplegic, people with severe mobility disabilities, beneficiaries of trafficking allowance), will be paid a lump sum of 100 euros . The measure is expected to benefit 4,750 people with disabilities.
Measures for electricity
In terms of electricity prices , Mr. Petridis announced the extension of horizontal and targeted measures to reduce VAT until 31 August 2022. That is, reduction of VAT from 19% to 9% for household consumers and from 19% to 5% for vulnerable consumers./p>
An additional measure is the expansion of the list of vulnerable energy consumers who will be entitled to increased subsidy from RES sponsorship schemes and the “save and upgrade” program of the Ministry of Commerce. According to the measures, 19.5 thousand families with a gross income below 19,000 euros will be added to this list. Also, the Minister of Finance stated that a measure is the increase from 90% to 100% of the possibility of covering the annual consumption of electricity for own consumption of the electricity produced by the photovoltaic system for both household consumers and businesses./p>
At the same time, YPOIK referred to the acceleration and simplification of licensing procedures for the installation of RES systems and through an order of the Ministry of Interior will not require a building permit for the installation of photovoltaics in cases where there is already a planning permission. Finally, with regard to fuels, the measure of excise duty on motor and heating fuels is extended until 31 August 2022.
{MESOTITLOS ι Farmers {MESOTITLOS}
It is worth noting that the measures announced yesterday include the support of producer groups and organizations to cover part of their operating expenses with additional support in agriculture and livestock, in order to cover part of the price increases due to inflation by a total amount. 8.8 million euros.
Opposition
In yesterday's announcement, AKEL pointed out that the measures announced contribute to the effort to alleviate vulnerable households and society from the growing wave of accuracy. However, they are not a comprehensive strategy against precision, AKEL claims. “It is clear that even today the government is unable to address the problem at its root,” the opposition party said. EDEK moved in the same direction in its announcement, which points out that the measures are in the right direction, however it states that there are possibilities to improve some of the measures, such as the reduction of VAT on basic products, the imposition of VAT only on electricity bill rather than the total bill of the bill and, finally, the increase of controls for illegal supply of fuel from the occupied areas.
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