The announcements are expected to be made next week. The income criterion is expected to increase even up to € 45,000. It is considered certain that consumers will receive larger amounts than those of the first cycle
By Chrysostomos Tsoufis
Dramatic increase of beneficiaries of the 2.3 million in the first cycle The government is expected to announce next week the second cycle of fuel subsidies.
The income criterion is expected to increase from € 30,000 family income up to € 45,000. At the same time, it must be considered certain that consumers will see in their bank accounts amounts significantly higher than the 30 € -55 € of the first cycle, while special care will be taken for the residents of the island areas.
An increase will also be announced for the horizontal discount on the pump regarding the diesel with the YPOIK extinguishing at least 20 minutes from the final price from the 15 minutes with the current regime. These interventions will raise the budget of the second package well above the 110 million € that the first interventions cost. The money will start to be paid in July and will cover the period until September.
The way for the new cycle of aid was opened by the deep breath of the tax revenues in May when the Public Funds received € 1.162 billion more revenues than the initial estimates.
Of course, this does not mean that all this amount is extra budgetary space. € 800 million come from ENFIA receipts as according to the budget its collection would start from September.
The government, however, spread the installments more, with the result that too many taxpayers rushed to pay it in one lump sum (approximately € 690 million come from lump sum payments. The “net” excess reaches € 362 million, but the Ministry of Finance is not in a hurry to spend it all.
“We have to keep reserves,” said an official of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as the next months are expected to be difficult. In his contacts with the Prime Minister and government ministers, the secretary general OPEC member Mohamed Barkido informed them that according to oil producer prices, the price of oil will continue to rise during the year as we move towards winter. According to the Nigerian official, the demand for oil is at the highest level of all time.
At the same time, the situation with the price of natural gas, which had “stuck” in the first 2 weeks of the month between 83-85 € / Mwh, is particularly fragile. Suddenly GAZPROM announced a 60% reduction in exports through the pipeline NORDSTREAM – citing technical problems – launching the price over 120 € / Mwh within 48 hours.
The cost of government interventions in electricity has been calculated with a base price for natural gas of 100 € / Mwh. Every € 10 price increase means a budget cost of € 300-400 million for the country. The benefit is of course similar in cases of price reduction.
