By Penelope Galliou

​The government is one step ahead of the announcements on the new support for vulnerable households, with the overperformance of the budget as an ally, as reflected by the relevant data released for the ten months of January and October.

The prime minister and the financial staff of the government have understood that the big bet and the “vote” of everyday life, as Kyriakos Mitsotakis said in a recent interview, are the “great judge” of the government’s work and with a view to improving everyday life, they work and they draw up their plan.

This plan, according to government sources, was strengthened – as expected – by the additional fiscal space that was created, so that without any risk to the fiscal course and stability of the country, the support of the most vulnerable citizens could proceed again, with a one-time aid before Christmas. Beneficiaries, as everything shows, will be low pensioners, long-term unemployed, families with low incomes and people with disabilities.

However, what is being communicated by government sources is that they are not going to proceed with any hasty move without the corresponding fiscal space, at a time when the new assessment by Fitch is also expected on December 1st, which all converge on the assessment that the due international house will give the investment grade. The concern of Megaros Maximos and the financial staff is that the good image that the country has abroad should not be “damaged” at all, at this given moment in time when Greece is attempting a total restoration to pre-memorandum levels.

Under these conditions and given that the wave of accuracy is still plaguing consumers and households, the government, alongside the measures to stop it, which it has already taken (heating allowance, household basket, permanent 5% discount on products, increased controls and fines to those who are speculating, etc., is now said to be determined to breathe new life into society, after the explosive excess of the primary surplus in the January-October period to 6.084 billion against the target of 1.746 billion, according to the data of the Ministry of Finance.

Given that part of this excess has been incorporated into the projections of the draft budget, the revenue excess reaches 300 million Euros, a “breather” capable of passing on to those who need it, with a new extraordinary allowance expected to be granted to the vulnerable, as Christmas gifts.