Lent of support measures

By Chrysostomos Tsoufis

Lent may be the season of fasting and austerities, but the government will be anything but sparing in announcing positive measures for households and businesses during the period that prepares the faithful for Easter.

In fact, there will be so many interventions that need to be carried out that the basic scenario of holding the elections, which currently says April 9, may also change.

The list includes, among others:

Market Pass: By the end of the week – efforts are being made for Friday but due to technical issues it may be possible on the weekend – the platform will open for the six-month coverage of 10% of household purchases with amounts from €32 to €100/month. It will take the form of either a physical debit card or cash (20% less) in the beneficiary’s account and can be used in supermarkets, fruit shops, butchers, fish shops, dairy shops and other food retail stores. The first payments will be made on March 3.

Household Basket: On Wednesday, its expansion will be announced with the addition of 9 additional categories which will make a total of 60. According to information, following consumer demand, meats, cold meats, cheeses and sweets will be added, among others.

Following the pattern of the Christmas basket, there will be both a Lenten basket and an Easter basket.

Retrospective supplementary pensions: Until the middle of March, approximately 40,000 pensioners whose supplementary pensions will not have been issued by the end of February will receive €100/month for each month of waiting from the moment of submitting an application for a supplementary pension, as long as it was made before July 2022. For some cases, such as the famous forgotten in lockers of auxiliary pensioners of the Metals Fund, the amounts can reach tens of thousands of euros.

Package of support measures: On Wednesday, the government will have the final picture of the fiscal space that has been created in order to proceed with new support interventions, which will be announced by the prime minister himself. On the list are expected:

• The personal differences allowance to at least 140,000 pensioners who did not receive any increase.
• New accuracy check for low pensioners and beneficiaries of welfare benefits.
• Revival of overdue debt arrangements (72, 100,120, installments) for those who lost them during the pandemic.

Minimum wage: The new minimum wage will be effective from April 1st. All the agencies involved have submitted their proposals which range from 5% to 15%. The responsible minister Kostis Hatzidakis will submit his proposal to the cabinet on March 10 with all the information suggesting a new minimum wage in the region of €780.

Borrower Support: A measure which is not financed by the state budget but entirely by the banks, but has a place on the list because it came after pressure from the Minister of Finance Christos Staikouras. The relevant platform has already been opened, the banks will undertake to cover for one year 50% of the increase in installments that came from the repeated increases decided by the ECB since September. It concerns approximately 30-35,000 borrowers who will see the support from April.

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