State loan interest waived

The Finance Ministry has granted recipients of the cheap state loans given out during the pandemic (known as the “Deposit To Be Returned”) the chance to pay off their dues in up to 60 monthly tranches without paying any interest. This concerns some 700,000 enterprises that have received a total of 8.3 billion euros.

The ministerial decision issued has therefore waived the 0.94% interest that the law had originally provided for.

That is the fifth intervention by the government in the program of the returnable funds issued during the lockdowns, thereby offering additional support to the companies and freelance professionals who have to return around €3 billion to the state.

It started with the reduction of the share of the loans that had to be paid back to the state: From the fourth to the seventh phase, the returnable amount was reduced to 50%. Straight afterward the number of tranches grew from 40 to 60, while Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis added two more interventions in September: The reduction up to 25% of the returnable section of the loans under certain conditions, and the additional discount of 15% for those who pay off their dues in a lump sum by December 31, 2021.

The new intervention has now opened the way for the Independent Authority for Public Revenue to upload the precise amount each enterprise and professional has to return – that is expected by the end of this month. The amount due will appear on the IAPR website (www.aade.gr), under the Debt Data of Arrangement and Payment entry.

The returnable amount of each state loan in the program has to be paid back in up to 60 monthly tranches, with the first due by the end of January 2022. The amount to be returned ranges between 25% and 50%, depending on the decline in turnover the recipients have suffered due to the measures aimed at stopping the pandemic. However, the enterprises that are proven to have suffered due to the fires in Greece between May 1 and September 2 this year will not have to pay back anything.