By Chrysostomos Tsoufis

At least €3.5 billion (1.5% of the country’s GDP) will have fallen into the market by the end of January through the various programs promoted by the government.

MY HOUSE 2

The flagship of all is none other than the program MY HOUSE 2 with a €2 billion budget (50% from the Recovery Fund and 50% from bank funds) and expanded age and income limits starting from the new year.

The program is expected to enable approximately 20,000 to acquire a first home with loans covering 90% of the property’s value up to €190,000. The loan will be 50% interest-free. The other 50% will have an interest rate in the region of 2% according to the estimates of Deputy Finance Minister Nikos Papathanasis. Especially for three and multiple children interest will be 75% of the loan.

UPGRADING MY HOME

The budget of the program amounts to €400m, €300m from Recovery Fund and €100m from bank funds. And this program starts in January.

The program is open, i.e. without restrictions of any kind (age, income, energy class, type of residence) and is addressed only to natural persons. Through interest-free loans up to €25,000, the energy upgrade of homes is attempted. The repayment period can reach up to 7 years, which means that for a loan of €25,000 the monthly installment amounts to approximately €300.

MICRO CREDITS

Up to €25,000 will be the loans to businesses and freelancers that will be given through the institution of microcredits which, according to the information so far, will start in December.

The €80m budget program is expected to favor mainly very small businesses and those who remain excluded from the banking system since it will not be “run” by banks but specially licensed private companies that operate within the framework of the relevant law passed by the government in 2020 under the supervision of Bank of Greece.

The loans that will cover, among other things, working capital, purchase of equipment and other investment needs will be interest-free for the first 2 years. Then 50% of the capital will be charged with interest. The repayment period can range from 12 months to 10 years, with the borrower having the right to early repayment. It is not allowed to receive real collateral for the granting of microfinance.

GIGABIT VOUCHER

With a budget of €80m (mainly with the Recovery Fund and less with national resources) it comes from October as a supplement to the Smart Readiness program which brought optical fiber to the apartment building. Now with this program the “passage” of the fiber to the apartment is also subsidized.

There are no criteria, it is addressed to all natural persons and businesses. Participants will get a €200 voucher to install broadband connections of over 300 Mbps at home or at work. For the voucher an application is required at gov.gr and for the connection an application to the provider of each household or business.

SUBSIDY OF NON-CRITICAL AREAS

The beginning will be made from the new year with 35 islands with less than 3,100 inhabitants. The program has a budget of €55 million and the funding comes from the NSRF and is part of the Just Development Transition program. Business plans of all businesses except tourism will be financed at a rate of 70%.

PUBLIC INVESTMENT PROGRAM

With a supplementary Budget that the Ministry of Finance will bring to Parliament in the coming days, the PDE will increase by €900m to €13.1bn. This means that in the last 100 days of the year €900m of new money will fall into the market and €7bn in total from the program (around €6bn has already been spent). According to the Minister of Finance, Kostis Hatzidakis, the increase of the PDE is made possible by the overperformance of the budget due to the additional income from the development and the performance of the anti-tax evasion measures.